WHat is happening to the new coaching scheme in 07. All i know is that a

UKCC will be needed.

Someone help

UkCC stand for a United Kingdom Coaching Committe? if so they will prob just try and standardise the coaching scheme across the board improving the standards of coaches and getting rid of the old school coaching that still goes on promoting poor and out of date techniques!

I have been told that the coaching scheme will b changing for the better! This will help things in the long run and whatever coaching award you have will be transfered to the newer scheme!

In some ways its a good idea, the only snag being that it will allow coaches to move into kayaking from other sports with minimal hassle n experience.(concentrating on the idea of if u can coach.....u can coach anything)

But it does mean that as an experienced kayak or indeed canoe coach u can attend day courses to specialise in preferd areas of our FANTASTIC sport!!!!

Big suck on teeth with this one, ok this is my understanding to date, no idea if it is right.

It appears that they are making coaching more for people who want to coach as a profession and stopping people in clubs being coaches, the star system will be more aimed at this with more emphasis on leading groups.

The UKCC will be needed but you will still have to have the relevant bcu level qualification to teach, you can take a UKCC in anything all it does is say you can coach and have n hours of experiance.

I don't think that anyone knows for sure what is going on, it was explained to me at the weekend and it would appear that the BCU has not set anything in stone. When it was explained it did seem to make sense but I think alo of people will be a little upset. for example, all level 4 coaches will be stripped back to level 3 and will have to re-train, some would argue that this is not a bad thing.

Hopefully this will enhance ability and lead to some fantastic quality coaching.

Its all a bit complex, and no its not been set in stone. The emphasis isnt on professional coaches, its on coaching for all, but yes the higher level, eg 4 and 5 coaches, are now really aimed at professionals. Level 4s will have to retrain but arent gonna be stripped down until about 2009 (i think) if they do not do this.
UKCC stands for United Kingdom Coaching Certificate. Its a sport britain thing, which aims to provide top quality sports coaching across the board and its a very positive thing for paddlesport to be involved with. Alot of coaching skills are generic and therefore transferrable so the whole thing is based on a module system. What it means is that you can train as a coach (by doing the coach processes course for example) and then you only have to do discipline specific modules and logged hours to be able to coach that sport, eg a kayak coach can more easily become a canoe coach, or a canoe coach can more easily become a rugby coach!
The star system is getting a much needed reworking and is going to be better for clubs and people who want to paddle with groups of peers. 3* is now going to incorporate moving water, and 4 & 5* are going to be a bit closer, without the huge jump up in ability required.
Theres alot of work involved in rolling this out but overall i think its going to be a very good thing for paddling in the uk, with great long term benefits for the sport. In the short term of course, its gonna be chaos, and probably everyone is gonna be a little confused. In fact im not sure if anything i just wrote makes any sense.......