Teaching Duties for Assistant Coaches

Your goal is to keep Gym Wizards core culture and philosophy foremost in your mind at all times while coaching.

Our philosophy is:

“Teach gymnastics in a fun, safe environment & raise the child’s self-confidence.

Our four most important values are:

“Make their Day”, “Create Fun”, “Keep Learning” and Create a Family Spirit”

DUTIES

Attitude: Coaches Personal conduct should include:

 No sitting or lying down.  No food or drink in front of students.  Keep Cell Phones off/on silent during teaching.  Proper G-Wiz uniform, hair neat and tied back off the face, make up neat  Congenial attitude towards students, staff and parents.  To use time between classes to talk to parents and students.  No Hands in Your Pockets.  Arrive at the gym 15-30 minutes before your class with a smile and a great attitude. Leave your problems at home.

Class Preparation  Off Site You are required to plan each lesson, AND SET GOALS for each term and each year. It’s important to have a lesson plan per group that is coached. Have termly and yearly goals for your group(s).

 On Site

 Connect with Supervisor to review the day’s briefing  Set up gym for the day, while checking for safety hazards.  Meet and greet.  Supervise students arriving early.  Take attendance register. Take down new trial contact info on register. Note children moving/changing classes.  Be able to sub when other instructors are absent or ill.  Check teaching stations to insure equipment readiness. [You must have “ratio plus 2” as the number of stations in your circuit. The most difficult/most unsafe station becomes the main station where you stay and spot.] The Class 1. Learn student’s names!!!!

2. Warm up your own group or assist the head coach by walking around and correcting the student’s form. Conduct a proper warm up for children, always correct their form. Warm up should be fun and exciting, not too long- and should include a little conditioning.

3. Start the class ON TIME with an introduction and goal setting- and end with review, challenges and the closing activity that’s on the lesson plan. Follow the lesson plans for the beginning and ending activities. You’ve got to make it fun!!

4. Follow Gym Wizards Curriculum Book and Progressions [Yellow-Gold] but be prepared to improvise.

5. Teach themed Pre-school lessons.

6. Adjust methods to student’s level and teach individually and not as a group. Be mindful of where each child is at- physically, emotionally, socially and intellectually.

7. Maintain class discipline as well as create a relaxed, warm and caring environment. If necessary, use the time-out method for one minute. Remember to use the if/then approach. If needed tell them you’re going to talk to their mom. Coach must adhere to the discipline policy of school/Gym Wizards, and use that method during coaching; [See G-Wiz Discipline and Class Management document]

8. Always be aware of possible advancement of students from one level to the next. [Never tell the student or the parent before your Supervisor has checked- as the group might be full/the child may not be ready emotionally/technically to move up].

9. “Show, Tell and Spot”. Demonstrate [or get a more advanced child to demonstrate], then instruct on “how” the technique works, then spot them through it. We want “hands on” teachers.

 NO MORE THAN 2 KIDS WAITING FOR THEIR TURN AT ANY POINT IN TIME

After Class

1. De Brief with your Supervisor  Advise supervisor if kids decide to move classes. Advise supervisor if there are new trials.  With your supervisor, assess new children correctly for placement into groups similar to their ability.

2. Do after-class work – pack away correctly [if required], tidy hall, do cleaning according to individual school/venue contracts, leave apparatus room neat, lights off, lock up and lost property [see check list]. Supervise children being fetched late. For Pre- schoolers- acknowledge the whole class with stars, stickers etc.

3. The heavy use of equipment does require each staff member to be responsible for the condition of equipment -report any problems to your Supervisor, please! Use hoops, ropes, round trampolines and other props for stations on the way back. [Report to Tania/your supervisor if you do not have enough]

*Remember while you are on the clock. You must be working. If you have time on your hands; you’ve got time to talk to parents/assist with coaching or equipment

Safety

1. No pre-school child should jump to dismount any higher than the distance between their knees and the floor. Keep emergency number of school caretaker/responsible person at hand. ALWAYS keep parents phone numbers on hand (in case of accident/injury)

2. Call SUPERVISOR/Handle emergencies/exceptional events [accident, last minute change of venue, irate customer] with calmness and smoothly.

3. Follow Safety Procedures- amongst others- no bridges for students under the age of 5 (In addition, Bridges with feet elevated is the only accepted bridging allowed for Beginners).

4. If an accident occurs on your shift, you are to fill out the accident form completely and go through it with your supervisor within 24 hours of the incident.

5. Never let a child leave the Hall unsupervised. Never leave a child who has not been collected. Phone parents and wait until they arrive.

6. Trampoline must be spotted at all times.

7. Create good following distance between stations

Other Things We Do as Coaches at Gym Wizards

 Assist with Winter and Summer Competitions AND Grading Weekends [4 weekends per year].  Attend termly general staff meetings and G-Wiz workshops.  Recruit customers [grow classes]  Recruit coaches  Visit peers and help other coaches with spotting/techniques/class management/lesson planning  Reflect on your lessons- how can you make them better  Take the initiative to continue with your Professional education  Make new coaches feel welcome- part of the G-Wiz Family  Help with moving equipment  Help at PR Events and marketing days  Be innovative and creative- new ideas are welcome  Be a little weird and funny- act in front of the kids!  Attend/conduct special “handover” sessions when leaving/starting at a school/venue

Most Importantly- Please The Customer!

Last Note: Fluidity of Hours

It is the nature of the business to have to sometimes change your appointed hours. If groups grow rapidly, we might ask you to teach for us for more hours. Likewise, if groups diminish in size, we might ask that you not come in for coaching, until class size has been restored. We also might ask you to coach at a different venue to your usual one, if help is required at another venue and you are not teaching in that timeslot/needed more urgently elsewhere. All of this can happen at any time during the course of a term and though we always try our best to keep teachers stable with their appointed groups, it is not always possible as children and schools- tend to change their extra mural schedules frequently. We ask that you be flexible in this to help keep things running smoothly.

Signed: