CWA Blog Archive-Coach Your Coaches With This Five Week Plan

Coach Your Coaches With This Five Week Plan

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This article provides a concrete five-week curriculum for training new youth coaches, arguing that gyms should put the same care into preparing coaches as they do into preparing climbers, rather than throwing new hires into the fire and hoping they don't get burned. The author developed the curriculum to better prepare new coaches for inspiring a new generation of crushers, with each week covering a new skills-based topic plus hands-on practice during youth practices. The full arc covers safety, instructing techniques, group management, growth mindset, giving creative challenges, and assessing deficiencies, and the article is written as a guide for a head coach to train new coaches over five weeks. Week 1 focuses on safety and models the curriculum's hands-on approach. The new coach arrives 30 minutes before practice to discuss the week's topic with the head coach, reflecting the principle that many climbers learn by doing, so showing skills first then allowing hands-on practice builds confidence and retention. The week begins by reviewing the rules together, then taking the coach through belay, boulder, and auto belay orientations. When climbers arrive, the head coach introduces the new coach as Coach [name] to inspire confidence in both the climbers and the new coach, a small but meaningful move that establishes authority and belonging. The head coach then assigns drills, starting with a Rules &amp; Orientation drill where the new coach practices taking climbers through the material. The throughline is that coaching, like climbing, is a skill that must be taught deliberately and progressively rather than assumed. By providing a structured five-week curriculum that builds from safety through instruction, management, mindset, creativity, and assessment, with each topic discussed then practiced, the article gives head coaches a repeatable system for developing new coaches into effective mentors. The emphasis on hands-on practice, early confidence-building like the Coach introduction, and progressive skill-building mirrors good climbing instruction itself. For gyms growing youth programs, the plan transforms coach onboarding from sink-or-swim improvisation into an intentional developmental process that produces prepared, confident coaches and, ultimately, better results for the young climbers they teach.

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This article offers a structured five-week curriculum for training new youth coaches, arguing gyms should prepare coaches as carefully as climbers. Each week covers a topic, safety, instruction, group management, mindset, creative challenges, assessment, discussed then practiced hands-on. Week 1 details safety drills and confidence-building, turning coach onboarding from sink-or-swim into an intentional developmental process.