Cadet bursaries - kickstart your coaching career!

Published 01:00 on 21 May 2024

Cadet bursaries - kickstart your coaching career! Apply here for the 2025 coaching season

South Cerney Sailing Club's 96 Cadet Squadron is pleased to announce the bursary awards for the next season. These awards help individuals to develop their instructing and coaching skills which benefit the cadet squadron. Now in their twelfth year, the coaching awards have proven successful in supporting the development of youth coaches and using their experience to improve the race training of the cadet squadron.

Who is able to apply?

Applicants must be current members of South Cerney Sailing Club and on the 31st October of their coaching year be over 16 and under 19 years of age.

What are the awards for?

Once again there are three categories of award; Assistant Coach, Performance coach and Trainee coach. The financial awards made to each successful applicant will help them cover the cost of training associated with obtaining RYA qualifications and gain coaching experience by contributing towards the cost of training courses, accommodation, incidental expenses and equipment required to obtain and develop instructing and race coaching skills and experience. The number of bursaries awarded at each level is not an exact science and will be determined by level of need for coaching with an eye on succession planning.

Assistant Coach

The award is a sum of £600. Applicants should have good experience of sailing at class level events and attending squad training.
Successful applicants for 2025 are required to obtain RYA recognised certification, by 31st October 2024, for the following:

• First aid
• RYA Powerboat Level 2
• RYA Dinghy Instructor or Race Coach Level 2

In addition, each successful applicant must deliver a minimum of 10 coaching sessions with South Cerney's 96 Cadet Squadron by 31st October 2025

Performance coach

The award is a sum of £350. Applicants should have a deep knowledge of the cadet dinghy and experience of squad coaching and class events over several seasons.
Successful applicants are required to obtain RYA recognised certification, by 31st October 2024 for the following:

• First aid
• RYA Powerboat Level 2
• Race Coach Level 2 or Dinghy Instructor

In addition, each successful applicant must deliver 5 coaching sessions with South Cerney's 96 Cadet Squadron by 31st October 2025.

Trainee coach

The award is a sum of £250. Applicants should have experience of cadet training and racing at home and on the class circuit and may be currently competing in the cadet class or have recent experience of such.Successful applicants are required to obtain RYA recognised certification, by 31st October 2024, for the following:

• First aid
• RYA Powerboat Level 2
• RYA Assistant instructor

The successful applicants will support the delivery of 5 coaching sessions through the season by assisting the Cadet Coach or Assistant coach.

How will the awards be paid?

Each award will be paid in 2 instalments with dates dependent upon the coaching year;
For the 2024 coaching year, bursaries will be paid 50% on 30th June 2024 and 50% on 31st October 2025 or once all coaching session have been delivered, whichever is soonest. As ever, the second payment is subject to acquisition of the necessary qualifications and delivery of the required number of sessions.

How do you apply?

To be considered for the awards, each applicant must contact the 96 Cadet Squadron Captain (cadetsquadroncaptain@scsailing.org.uk) with their application. The closing date for applications is 30th June 2024. Applications will be considered by the Cadet Committee except where there is a conflict of interest ie any parents of applicants will not be involved in consideration of applications.

The application should address three main points:

• What the applicant will do with the award, and how the opportunity to develop their coaching and instructing skills will contribute towards their own sailing career, education or future employment opportunities.
• What the applicant will bring to the 96 Cadet Squadron in terms of an innovative coaching style, experience of Cadet sailing, or acting as a role model for other Cadet sailors.
• What makes a good sailing coach or instructor and how the applicant feels they can develop towards this description.

Where an applicant has previously received a bursary, they should also describe the qualifications they have achieved and the experience gained from the coaching they have provided. Where timescales of previous bursaries and new applications overlap, there is no expectation that all requirements of a previous bursary be complete but demonstrable progress should be evident. The committee will consider value brought to the club via the previous bursary prior to awarding a further bursary.

Applicants may be invited to present their application to the committee. An applicant's presentation should be limited to 15 minutes. An additional 15 minutes will be available for the committee to ask the applicant questions. PowerPoint will be available if required.

The committee will announce the awards as soon as a decision has been reached.

Good luck to those who apply.

Harriet Hancock

Cadet Captain

Last updated 21:29 on 21 May 2024