Andy Stevens gets his Coaching Qualification

For a while I have wanted to get a formal running coaching qualification.  I passed my Run Leader course a few years ago but wanted to focus more on athlete development and creating structured training programmes with runners to achieve their goals. When England Athletics arranged a course in Folkestone it seemed the ideal time to register on a self-funded basis.    

The CIRF course involved three days of tutor-led sessions split over several months, an online exam and an observed practical  day where you had to deliver a full session and also present an 8 week training programme for an athlete you are working with. My training programme was certainly put to the test when one of the athletes I worked with, Jo Holl, ran a half marathon PB at the Great North Run recently !    

The course takes you through putting the athlete at the centre of the training and building the programme around the individual rather than using something off the shelf. As runners we all contend with injury, illness and life getting in the way sometimes and an “athlete centred” programme like this course teaches you should adapt to this whilst keeping a realistic race goal in mind.   

Despite the time commitment it was a lot of fun, England Athletics delivered the course in a really interesting way. I learnt a lot and I met some great people from other running clubs. I’m really looking forward to using the knowledge gained in the future and would recommend the course to anyone who wants to develop their skills in this area.

Andy Stevens, Men’s Captain and Coach in Running Fitness

Andy, who paid for this course out of his own money, should be congratulated and we are looking forward to seeing him coaching future runners into smashing their PB’s too!