ssc_marcomms posted on June 23, 2007 16:54
When we sent out advertisements for the second National Coaching Accreditation Programme (NCAP) Technical Level I Wrestling Coaching Course, we hoped to get 6 to 10 coaches to enroll. We were completely surprised and excited when we had more than 30 people signing up for the course. Since learning wrestling is a "hands-on" sport we felt that more than 30 would compromise the quality of the course, thus, capping the number. With the exception of a few who had experience either as athletes or coaches in martial arts, most had no prior experience with wrestling.
The intense weekend-long coaching course consisted of units, such as strength training, flexibility training, methods for recovery, psychology of competition, and practice organisation. Most of the time was spent on learning wrestling techniques from two times Olympic Champion, Sergei Beloglazov. The more academic units were covered quickly since these could be learned by reading the coaching manual. Wrestling techniques on the other hand required each coach to feel how to do a move. The balance and pressure of each technique needed a hands-on approach from Sergei. The coaches were on the mat, learning techniques for about seven hours daily, over a two-day period. At the end of Sunday's afternoon session, most were physically and mentally exhausted.
The lone female participant, Ms Kandice Aura Mallonga, 24, a former wrestler from the Philippines found the course very useful as it helped refreshes her knowledge of various techniques. Sergei National Registry of Coaches (NROC) Swimming Coach with a black belt in Taekwondo, Mr Dion Gan Teck Chye, praised the interactive hands-on approach and foresees opportunities in the coaching this new sport.
After the weekend session, the coaches are required to put in an additional 60 hours of training of which a minimum of 30 hours has to be spent practicing at the national training centre reinforcing what was learned during the weekend. In addition to the time spent at the national training centre, coaches can also get credits for the hours they spend running practices on their own. After completing the 60 hours the coaches then need to take a comprehensive written test in order to complete the NCAP Technical Level I Coaching Certificate.
The coaches with the NCAP Technical Level I certificates are able to train wrestlers up to yellow belt. In order to train wrestlers to higher levels, the coaches will need to earn the Level II or Level III certificates. The belt system is something that was developed by the Wrestling Federation of Singapore to help retain and motivate young wrestlers. The first few levels are based on the technique learned and the higher belts are earned through performance. Since wrestling is new to Singapore, these newly trained coaches will immediately have opportunities to coach in several venues like clubs or school teams.