Did a solo trip to Klang last weekend to conduct one Level 1 class and 2 Basics workshop, which both went pretty well.
Set off on Sat morning at 4am, and reached the swimming pool around 8.30am - Could have been earlier if I had not set the GPS to the breakfast location instead of the swimming pool.
Ran the first Level 1 class session between 12PM-3PM. First time running the full class without any kind of support or supervision. Having done a short 1-1 coaching session in SG helped a fair bit on streamlining the issues that I'm expecting to see and tools that I will need to use. Pretty good results after the first session.
1st Basics workshop between 5PM-9PM, which 3 out of 6 students chose to sign up for the Level 1 class even though we did not have any specific dates laid out for Level 1 yet, which was pretty encouraging
2nd Basics workshop on Sunday 8AM-12PM was kinda interesting, as I was thrown the curveball of having 3 Muslim ladies in my class, so I had to be extra cautious about any kind of physical contact out of respect for them. It was interesting though, as I had to adjust my class to be even more succinct and effective with minimal contact, on the go. It actually worked pretty well in fact, that I had to innovate more to overcome the challenges and limitations. The 3 muslim ladies were pretty happy about the results of their basics workshop and signed up for the Level 1 class as well.
The subsequent 2 sessions for Level 1 classes went very smoothly, and from the reactions of the students, I probably had far exceeded their expectations from attending my class.
Having been through the same curriculum as an end-user, understanding the pain points of the end users, and addressing them proactively when I was the coach, really helped to improve my lesson plans and the way I teach.
I had only the general lesson plan in place, had no specific steps or sequence on what to teach, which actually worked pretty well as I adjusted my tempo according to the real time needs rather than following a fixed formula, which may not work at times.
Coming from a Sales background definitely helped in my communications skills and style. Coupled with the passion for the sport/coaching, it probably helped to create a warm aura of true coaching which the students endeared to, rather than a cold calculating salesman trying to close an order.
Did a debriefing at the end of the classes for my 2 new assistant coaches, and it seems that they warmed up very quickly to me as well after seeing how differently I conduct my classes. Bought them dinner after the classes and got to know them better as well. Hearing their feedback on the classes and business over an informal setting is the best way to gather honest input.
Left Klang at 9.30PM and reached home at around 3PM after numerous stops to catch the full moon + planet alignment along the R&R stops.
It has only been 9 months since I started swim coaching (or even lesser as we had to complete our long hours of training first before doing any kind of coaching), but I had learnt plenty of stuff along the way. While the business revolves around swim coaching, the skills that I had picked up along the way extends beyond that. I've got more chance to practice my communications, presentation and "selling" skills, which will be useful no matter where I go.
Set off on Sat morning at 4am, and reached the swimming pool around 8.30am - Could have been earlier if I had not set the GPS to the breakfast location instead of the swimming pool.
Ran the first Level 1 class session between 12PM-3PM. First time running the full class without any kind of support or supervision. Having done a short 1-1 coaching session in SG helped a fair bit on streamlining the issues that I'm expecting to see and tools that I will need to use. Pretty good results after the first session.
1st Basics workshop between 5PM-9PM, which 3 out of 6 students chose to sign up for the Level 1 class even though we did not have any specific dates laid out for Level 1 yet, which was pretty encouraging
2nd Basics workshop on Sunday 8AM-12PM was kinda interesting, as I was thrown the curveball of having 3 Muslim ladies in my class, so I had to be extra cautious about any kind of physical contact out of respect for them. It was interesting though, as I had to adjust my class to be even more succinct and effective with minimal contact, on the go. It actually worked pretty well in fact, that I had to innovate more to overcome the challenges and limitations. The 3 muslim ladies were pretty happy about the results of their basics workshop and signed up for the Level 1 class as well.
The subsequent 2 sessions for Level 1 classes went very smoothly, and from the reactions of the students, I probably had far exceeded their expectations from attending my class.
Having been through the same curriculum as an end-user, understanding the pain points of the end users, and addressing them proactively when I was the coach, really helped to improve my lesson plans and the way I teach.
I had only the general lesson plan in place, had no specific steps or sequence on what to teach, which actually worked pretty well as I adjusted my tempo according to the real time needs rather than following a fixed formula, which may not work at times.
Coming from a Sales background definitely helped in my communications skills and style. Coupled with the passion for the sport/coaching, it probably helped to create a warm aura of true coaching which the students endeared to, rather than a cold calculating salesman trying to close an order.
Did a debriefing at the end of the classes for my 2 new assistant coaches, and it seems that they warmed up very quickly to me as well after seeing how differently I conduct my classes. Bought them dinner after the classes and got to know them better as well. Hearing their feedback on the classes and business over an informal setting is the best way to gather honest input.
Left Klang at 9.30PM and reached home at around 3PM after numerous stops to catch the full moon + planet alignment along the R&R stops.
It has only been 9 months since I started swim coaching (or even lesser as we had to complete our long hours of training first before doing any kind of coaching), but I had learnt plenty of stuff along the way. While the business revolves around swim coaching, the skills that I had picked up along the way extends beyond that. I've got more chance to practice my communications, presentation and "selling" skills, which will be useful no matter where I go.
