Ultimate Australia Coach Accreditation
Ultimate Australia provides formal coach education through accredited UA Coach courses.
Community Coach – Level 1
Level 1 accreditation gives participants the knowledge and skills to teach groups of new players how to play ultimate. Experience playing ultimate is not a pre-requisite.
The Community Coach Course will teach you the skills required to get a beginner group playing and enjoying Ultimate Frisbee. Completion of the course and it’s co-requisite requirements takes approximately 5.5 hours.
Coaches can take this training at any time, and at their own pace, with all training and assessment to attain the Level 1 qualification provided online.
This course is usually valued at $37.99 (inc. GST) but is provided free of charge for the time being.
UV can also deliver in-person Community Coach training for groups based at clubs, schools and organisations. Those interested in hosting the course for their members, students or volunteers to gain Level 1 accreditation should contact us to discuss options.
The Community Coach accreditation covers the essential skills of a coach for any sport, and then provides an overview of teaching the basics of Ultimate. This course is a starting point for someone without any coaching experience. The course is entirely online and free to complete.
Part of this accreditation is completing the Coaching Essential Skills course from the Australian Sports Commission. Topics in this course cover:
- Understand what safeguarding in sport is, and your role in creating a safe environment
- Creating a positive and engaging sports environment
- The best use of available space, equipment and facilities
- Elements of effective session planning
- Understanding what effective communication is and how to deliver it
- Identify key stakeholders within community sport and how they can assist you
- Effective group management, and ways in which to encourage positive behaviour and role modelling
- Be aware of the importance of self-reflection as a developing coach
The rest of the Community Coach accreditation covers:
- An introduction to ultimate
- Basic outline of skill acquisition
- Teaching throwing and catching skills
- Playing different games with a disc
- Basic offence concepts
- Basic defence concepts
Development Coach – Level 2
The Development Coach course goes further into coaching skills and knowledge applicable to Ultimate. This is an ideal accreditation to hold if you run organised pickup games for new players, captain a league team, have an ongoing coaching role at a club, or you are interested in being a coach in the future.
This course features three stages
Stage 1 – Online course. You can enrol in this at any stage and complete the modules at your own pace.
Stage 2 – Coaching logbook. Logging and reflecting on your first 20 hours of coaching using knowledge gained from the modules.
Stage 3 – In-person assessment. A full day of practical coaching with peer feedback and further insights.
Ultimate Victoria will arrange assessment days once enrolments in the online course reach an appropriate threshold. Contact will be made directly with coaches based in Victoria who are enrolled in the online course.
Next Assessment Day: TO BE CONFIRMED
Alternatively, assessments can be organised at a club’s training session if they have multiple coaches ready to finalise their accreditation. Clubs can contact UV about arranging this.
There is a fee payable to Ultimate Australia to access the online course, and then an assessment fee payable to Ultimate Victoria.
Modules in the online course cover the following:
- Coaching philosophy
- Introduction to sport psychology
- Introduction to physical training
- Nutrition and hydration
- Planning and evaluating training sessions
- Team management and season/campaign planning
- Further insights into skill acquisition
- Teaching Ultimate skills (rim catch, hammer throw, downfield cutting, backfield cutting, marking and guarding)
- Team offence strategy
- Team defence strategy
- Concussion management
The in-person assessment takes a full day and is primarily built around practical coaching – every coach will plan, conduct, and evaluate a practical activity – and peer feedback, but further insights are also taught on:
- Athlete pathways within Australia
- Checking that the area you are using is safe for sport
- Warm-ups that minimise injury risk
- Drill design and modifications
- Teaching offence strategy
- Teaching defence strategy
- Training session reflection and evaluation
UV Instructor
Ultimate Victoria runs their own Instructor education and certification program for volunteers to learn how to teach basic throwing and catching skills to new players, allowing them to run introductory clinics at schools, universities, league teams and workplaces. This is available online for free.