WG Coaching School

Successful coaches from past generations have always distinguished themselves as 'good communicators', with the ability to work with their athletes and guide them along their journey. Wayne Goldsmith has spent his professional life observing and categorising both good and bad coaching practice. His new coach education resource, Soft Skills - High Impact, reflects his years of observation and analysis. The 'Science' of coaching has been the core of our coach education programs for many years; Wayne unpacks the 'Art' of coaching swimmers in this online resource. How does a swimming coach instil confidence in his/her athletes; encourage athlete commitment; inspire leadership, and build a successful culture and team environment? Wayne's observations and examples are underpinned by key psychological principles and social science research. Athletes deserve more than just the most up-to-date physiological and technical coaching practice to shape their training/competition experience. Wayne shows us how coaching 'intent' and 'connection with the athlete' can improve coaching effectiveness and athlete outcomes. I would not hesitate to recommend this resource to any novice swimming coach, and also see Soft Skills as a 'value added' proposition for the experienced swimming coach. Dr Ralph Richards (former National Coaching and Development Coordinator for Australian Swimming)

For well over a decade Wayne Goldsmith has been an innovator when comes to identifying participation trends and creating performance coaching models. 'Soft skills - High Impact' is another example of Wayne identifying and challenging orthodoxy in coaching. Any coach willing to challenge themselves to better understand how they can focus on 'intent' as well as 'content', and then apply that understanding every day will, I believe, find greater joy and success in coaching, and perhaps more importantly, they will have an everlasting positive impact on the people they coach. Well done, Wayne! - Brett Reid, Triathlon Coach and (in a previous version of myself) Sport Psychologist

Goldsmith’s years of experience and knowledge of the sport truly shows with this course. His theories and practices are down to earth, understandable and easily applicable for any coach. This course is a must-have for any coach, new or old.

Wayne’s course comes at a time where coaches around the world are acknowledging more than ever the crucial importance of the soft skills in coaching. Coaching is more than writing sets with carefully thought out repeats and intervals (the content), coaching is the art of inspiring change through emotional connection with our athletes. As very few coaching courses and professional development conferences include the soft skills of coaching, I feel this course is a must for anyone looking to take their coaching to the next level. At the beginning of my coaching career, many of the mistakes I’ve made could have been avoided had I have the knowledge Wayne shares in this course. I suggest this course be part of the formal education of any new coach. Philippe Voisard Swim coach, Canada