Coaches

NATIONAL COACH ACCREDITATION SCHEME

Baseball Australia has adopted the USA Baseball Coaches Certification Program in order to develop your knowledge base as you progress along your coaching journey. For participation based training and competition environments (club and charter baseball), there are three levels of certification that will provide you with the skill sets required to safely and effectively implement training sessions that will advance the abilities of your players. In addition, there is a coaching app that provides you with an outstanding resource to design and store training sessions, while also prompting you with ideas to enhance the quality of training sessions. For advanced coaches instructing in the performance pathway environments (state teams, performance pathway programs or national teams), Baseball Australia can provide bespoke training solutions based on the specialist needs required to coach in these advanced training and competition environments.

HOW DO I BECOME AN ACCREDITED COACH?

There are two prerequisites required for coaching at all levels of baseball in Australia. They are Sport Australia’s Online General Principles course and the attainment of a state based Working with Children check.

1. Sport Australia’s General Principles Beginning Coaching Course

• This course is very important from a legal standpoint, and must be completed prior to attempting the USA Baseball courses.
• Once you register your details online, you can go directly to the assessment portion of this course if you wish. If you have a good background in coaching, you should not have much difficulty with successfully completing it.
• If you are quite new, you will find useful and eye-opening information there which will enable you to pass the assessment when you are ready.
•  If you find you need a rest, you can save your work and come back to it later.
• You will be able to print off a certificate as evidence that you have passed this essential assessment: it is a mandatory requirement for your coaching certification.

2. Your state’s working with children requirement, child protection and ASADA training

To coach under age players, as in any sport, you must have the relevant clearance to work with children. This varies from one state to another; please check the local requirements for this check. The organisation who is engaging the coach must hold a photocopy of the check for verification of all coaches in their environment, and produce these copies on request by either the state association or Baseball Australia. If you move interstate, you will be required to obtain a check from your new state of residence.

INFO FOR YOUR STATE: ACT | NSW | NT | QLD | SA | TAS | VIC | WA

In addition to acquiring the relevant working with children checks, “Play By the Rules” provide a training module for completion for child protection that complements your coach certification. While not compulsorily at this point in time, it is anticipated that this will be mandated in the near future. As a result, it his highly recommended that you complete the Play By The Rules child protection training course available here.

For coaches within any performance pathway or high performance program (state development squads, state teams, national teams), you are required to complete the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) Level 1 and 2 training. Verification of this training must be presented to the organisation that has appointed you. This training can be accessed here.

USA Baseball Certification

In partnering with USA Baseball, the Coaches Certification Program is a pathway for all individuals who are currently coaching baseball or aspire to coach at a participation level of the game. The program aims to create a higher standard of coach education and enhance the ability of coaches to better serve their player,  team and the community.

The Coaches Certification Program is driven by the need for baseball coaches to continue to develop and increase their own involvement in coaching skills throughout their careers. The program aspires to create a culture of continuing education, professional development and active mentorship within the coaching community. It is a call to action for coaches to learn and grow by interacting with one another, allowing experienced coaches to pass their knowledge and guidance down to fellow coaches with less experience.

The pathway consists of three certification levels (A, B, and C). Certification A and B are free of costs with Certification C requiring a cost recovery for the practical assessment from January 2021. The certification at all three levels requires the completion of a series of courses, resources and programs delivered and accessible below. The curriculum includes educational resources that cover important topics such as health and safety, creating a positive environment, recognising and responding to misconduct, practice planning, game management, skill-specific development and hosting local coaching clinics in your own community.

Baseball Australia members may commence these courses immediately.

Coaches App

Baseball Australia’s partnership with USA Baseball has provided Australian coaches access to the USA Baseball Mobile Coach app. Over the course of 2020, Baseball Australia will be branding our own version of this app, with the same content being available to our coaches across the country.

The app provides coaches with a free readily available resource that will assist coaches both on their upskilling over time, but also as an incredibly valuable resource at their fingertips with both pre-loaded and saved training sessions to assist coaches who are balancing other activities in their every-day life, and have minimal time to plan sessions in detail.

Highlights of the app include:

• Online courses
• Practice plans
• Drill library (including teaching notes, diagrams and video)
• Pitch Smart Guidelines
• Physical preparation and injury prevention exercises

COACHES CODE OF CONDUCT

Click here to view the Coaches Code of Conduct and sign the agreement to adhere to it.

GOT A QUESTION?

Click here to read through our frequently asked questions.