Coaches play a crucial role in developing, inspiring and leading athletes to achieve their goals in Surf Life Saving sport competition. As a surf lifesaving coach, you have the opportunity to support and guide athletes in a range of disciplines across all levels of competition – from juniors to high performance.

SLSA has a 5-tier coaching pathway which centres around a contemporary, flexible, interactive and purpose-built coach accreditation framework designed to ensure we are developing great coaches in all coaching environments and in all surf sport disciplines. The current SLSA Surf Sport Coaching Framework is built upon Sport Australia’s Coaching Framework Toolkit for National Sporting Organisations. The framework includes:

• Foundation Coach accreditation (entry point): Coaches of entry level participants and junior athletes across board, swim and beach events who are participating in a club sport environment both recreationally and competitively.
• Development Coach accreditation (entry point: Coaches who chose to specialise in 1 or more surf sport disciplines who are coaching junior to senior athletes competing in club/branch/state surf sport environments.
• Performance Coach accreditation: Coaches who are specialists within their discipline(s) and strive for performance-based outcomes from their athletes who are competing at state and national surf sport environments.
• High Performance Coach: Selected performance coaches who have been identified as experts in their discipline(s) as part of the National High-Performance Program.

Foundation Coach

Foundation Coaches inspire and guide junior surf sport participants across the Board, Swim, and Beach disciplines.

Foundation Coaches are responsible for coaching entry level participants including junior athletes and nippers (who will generally be non-bronze-proficient) who actively participate in a club surf sport environment (recreationally or competitively) across board, swim and beach disciplines. The Foundation Coach course is an entry level course for parents and club members who are new to coaching and are actively participating in a club surf sport environment (recreationally or competitively). The Foundation Course provides coaches with the knowledge and skills needed to coach nippers in a surf club environment using a games sense approach and covers the three general principles of surf sports; swim, beach and board. The Foundation coach course is suitable for those who will be coaching nippers and/or are involved in an assistant junior coach capacity under the direction and guidance of a Development Coach (or higher).

To become a Foundation Coach, you must be:

• Be at least 16 years of age
• Be a current surf life saving club member
• Hold a valid Blue Card

Development Coach

Development coaches provide guidance to athletes across one or more disciplines within a particular focus on discipline specific skill development.

Development coaches have the knowledge and skills to effectively plan and deliver discipline specific coaching sessions with a particular focus on skill development for their athletes. Development coaches support and guide athletes who are competing at branch, state and national events. The Development Coach course includes a number of core modules essential to surf sports coaching as well as a variety of discipline specific elective modules catering for individual coaching ambitions. The Development Coach course is suitable for members who are familiar with the range of surf sports disciplines and events as well as those coordinating club surf sports coaching programs/squads. Development Coaches can specialise in 1 or more of the following disciplines: Beach Events, IRB Events, Swim Events, Surf Boat Events, Surf Ski Events, Lifesaving Events, Board Events, Pool Rescue Events, Ironperson Events. Surf Boat sweeps wishing to coach/sweeps Surf Boats in championship events must also hold a Development Coach accreditation in addition to the relevant sweep level accreditation.

To become a Development Coach, you must be:

• At least 16 years of age
• a surf life saving member
• The holder of a valid Blue Card

Performance Coach

Performance coaches are specialists in their discipline and utilise their skills and knowledge to achieve performance based outcomes for their athletes.

Performance Coaches are experienced coaches who are specialists in their discipline and have the coaching knowledge and skills required for their athletes to achieve performance-based outcomes at branch, state, national and/or international level. Performance coaches are also mentors to other coaches. The Performance Coach course includes a number of modules essential for coaches who are working with athletes in the ‘Perform’ phase of development and coaching athletes at the higher echelons of the sport as well as representative teams. The Development Coach accreditation is a prerequisite for the Performance Coach course. It is expected that all Performance Coach candidates are experienced Development Coaches and very familiar with the content of the SLSA coaching pathway. Target Coaches for this course will be considered by SLSQ periodically throughout the year, with limited invitations being circulated to targeted candidates.

To become a Performance Coach, you must be:

• A minimum of 18 years of age
• A current surf life saving club member
• The holder of a valid Blue Card
• Current Development Coach accreditation.

High Performance Coach

High Performance Coaches are leaders and experts within their field who develop, inspire and lead high-performance athletes in pursuit of their sporting goals.

High Performance coaches are experienced Performance Coaches who have been identified as leaders within their chosen field. These coaches are talent identified as part of either the National High-Performance Program or as experts outside this particular program. A High-Performance Coach would be responsible for coaching high-performance athletes who are competing at an elite level or internationally. Each member of this group will be supported with an individual coach performance plan (ICPP) which will facilitate SLSA’s high performance coaches to be at the cutting edge of lifesaving sport at the highest level. Each HP coach will be required to attend an annual workshop.

High Performance Coaches must be:

• Minimum 18 years of age
• Hold a valid Blue Card
• A current surf life saving club member
• Include current Performance Coach accreditation.