“I love the way people have a comedy moan at you during the session but are all smiles and thanks afterwards.”
Rachel Job has summed up well what it’s like to be a run leader! The runners at your session work hard, have a (pretend) moan about how hard it is, then smile at the end whilst telling you how much they enjoyed it. And it’s a great feeling as a run leader knowing that your runners have put in a decent effort and will go away from the session feeling good about it.
The club is looking for some new Leaders in Running Fitness (LiRF) to join the current pool of run leaders. The more people actively leading sessions, the more flexibility it allows for leaders to fit sessions around their other commitments such as work and their own running.
You may already have a LiRF qualification, or you’re interested in gaining one - either way the club is ready to support you with leading sessions!
Why get involved?
Here’s what some of our current run leaders and coaches say they enjoy the most:
“The best part is seeing people enjoy and appreciate the club sessions! And Eagles are great at showing their appreciation. They are basically always ‘on our side’ so it makes it very rewarding.” - Mike Limpert
“It's really rewarding to see Beginner graduates go on to become not only successful runners, but to continue the cycle by becoming leaders of new Beginner intakes.” - Dineke Austin
“I enjoy watching people make progress and gain enjoyment from, and confidence in, their running, from couch to 5k, to 10k, to half marathon and beyond - and getting faster. Runners appreciate your input to enable this to happen” - Wei Hei
So what does it involve?
The club currently offers coach-led sessions (e.g. intervals, track and hills) on Monday mornings and Tuesday & Thursday evenings. Leading a session means designing and delivering a fun and safe warm up, main session and cool down. Don’t worry if you don’t have any experience with this! The LiRF qualification gets you on track and we have a large bank of session plans that you can use and adapt. You also get new ideas as you gain more experience.
Find out more
If we’ve piqued your interest, there are a number of ways to find out more. If you’re on Facebook, you can send Rhiannon a message with any questions you have about what is involved. If you’d like to volunteer at a session to see what it’s like, email Wei Hei at coaching@ealingeagles.com and she can link you up with the leaders with sessions coming up.
Still not sure?
Here’s some final encouragement from our run leaders to help:
“Do not doubt your ability to Coach. Just start easy, take your time, and build your knowledge, experience and confidence step-by-step; Observing-Assisting-Leading. Beginners or Juniors is a great way to start Coaching development; first by volunteering - observing and assisting, then gaining the entry level LiRF qualification.” - Mike Limpert
“You don't need to be more experienced or faster than the people you are coordinating - more experienced and faster runners are often very appreciative of the fact that you are willing to give time to enable them to train. The club is very fortunate that there are opportunities to try out different types of leading and coaching in the beginners' programme, the juniors programme or assisting with the intervals / hills sessions - and appropriate levels of support for whatever you want to do in your run leading / coaching career.” - Wei Hei
“Everyone can do it! Don't hesitate. The training is there and there is great support from other coaches in the club. Start by chatting to one of the coaching team or volunteer as a support run leader. It's a sliding scale, and you won't be thrown in a deep end - promise!” - Rachel Job
Written by Rhiannon Williams