I love living in rural areas and I guess my title is misleading, but I've found a hiccough in our province that's making me upset and it's related to living in a rural location. I don't usually like to complain, but I'm quite ticked off at the moment and that has to do with the way coaching is promoted in the province, or at least the certification of coaching volleyball.
It's apparently a goal of places like SVA or SHSAA to encourage more people to come away with their coaching credentials as a way to provide greater opportunity for youth wanting to play.
So, if this is really what they want to do, why not make it easier for coaches to actually take the course? Now, volleyball season is from about September to November for high school and December to May for club, which is why the majority of courses are held at the end of November.
My issue surrounds the timing of courses and where they're held. The cost of the courses is manageable: $175 for Technical Level 1 and Part A Theory at approximately $100 is fine. On top of this, however, the courses are held in the cities. This means a two-day trip, to either Regina or Saskatoon for certification. Thus, the nearly $300 is nothing compared to the cost of travel to the city, either staying or returning home to drive in again the next day, as well as meals.
Last year there was one scheduled in Weyburn, but it was cancelled leaving Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert, or Swift Current to get it done. I'm not sure why the one in Weyburn was cancelled, maybe there weren't enough registered, and I was unable to attend anyway due to work, but if people in the southeast want to take this coaching certificate it's feeling nearly impossible to me to do so between when they have the courses scheduled and the necessary travel involved.
It's discouraging when the cost to go somewhere for the course is more than the courses combined. Ideally they would hold a couple sessions in August because the third part to being fully certified is putting in 40 hours of experience for Level 1, which I already have through prior seasons but the time must be completed after finishing the Technical and Theory courses.
So, why not hold multiple courses in August because school seasons would count towards the hours needed, thus allowing someone to be certified going into the winter club season. Not only that, but I remember November last year as having ridiculous roads, so had I needed to travel to Regina or Saskatoon for the courses it wouldn't have happened as I'd be putting my life in danger on poor roads.
They do have one being held in August, but somehow they think that a Monday and Tuesday is an acceptable time to hold the courses and even at that it's in Saskatoon.
The entire situation irks me because if it were actually accessible and reasonable I would have it. I wouldn't have to listen to how it's important to certify coaches and how it's a priority because the way they have it set up, it's not a priority. It completely cuts people from rural areas out of being able to actually become certified.
In this day and age you'd think they'd be able to come up with an alternative. Do a video conference or set up an online course, they have all of the materials already so create a course you have to purchase online and go through which is how I completed "Respect in Sport" and "Concussion Protocol" for coaching already. These are through different associations though and seem to actually want to encourage coaching throughout Saskatchewan. I'm not sure if it's just volleyball that is this difficult to become certified in Saskatchewan for or if there are other sports out there equally as ridiculous.
It takes a lot to upset me and this honestly makes me mad. They say they want to promote coaching and get more people out there to take it up as a way to encourage the sport throughout the province, while making you jump through absolutely every possible loop hole making it nearly impossible for rural residents to actually become certified.
