Train Hard - Stay Humble

BApk Session Organizer's Workshop

Community Values: BApk has a specific set of values that we want our leaders to adhere to. These values include maintaining a beginner mentality, focusing on safety, providing an accessible welcoming and healthy training atmosphere, remaining non-competitive, and being involved within the community.

Starting a Session

Show up before and begin the session no later than 15 minutes after the scheduled start time.
Introduce yourself, tell people you will be leading the session, and set their expectations based on your capabilities. Tell them how long you’ve been training, and what they can expect from you at the session. It is important that you do not teach beyond your understanding. However, you do not have to demonstrate something in order to teach it as long as you can explain it well.
If possible, begin training close to the meeting point so that late comers can find you.

Leading a Warm Up: Every training session should begin with a warm up. It is part of the BApk methodology, and is the first step toward training safely. By the end up the warm up everyone should be sweating and feel limber.

What is the purpose of a warm up?
What can happen if you begin training without a warm up?
What should a warm up include?

Suggested warm up – Get loose, light jog, joint rotation, dynamic stretch, jumping or dynamic jog, QM

BApk Session Types

Instructor Led Session – One or more coaches leads the group through skill based exercises and progression drills. Coaches provide varying levels of challenges as well as insight on technique.
Open Session – There is no lead coach. Everyone learns from each other in a collaborative environment. A session leader makes sure everyone has something to work on, and offers suggestions to anyone who does not know what to do.
Hybrid Session – Starting with an instructor led session then transitioning to an open session.

Session Leader Duties

Define the session and your role as the leader
Run the warm up
Assign other leaders to specific duties
Keep people engaged in their training
Stay available and approachable
Keep the training atmosphere safe, quiet, and free of media and competition
Be a spokesperson for the group
Move the group when necessary
Keep a low profile
Lead a group cool down

Co-Coaching - In larger groups it is preferable to have multiple coaches or leaders to assist each other.

Assign your roles
Make a lesson plan together
Avoid teaching conflicting information
Do not speak over each other
Handle disagreements quietly
Divide and conquer

Games: Add-on, Hot Lava, Tag (QM), Follow (but don’t copy) The Leader

Leading an Instructed Session – When leading a session as an instructor, it is important not to teach beyond your understanding. Start with movements that you are familiar and confident with. Use the progression method to break those movements down into smaller drills. The goal is to teach people a process that they can use to teach themselves or others. This process includes breaking a movement down into smaller more attainable goals, building on those goals, and then linking the pieces together. Everyone progresses at different rates, so be prepared to assign specific tasks to people who may need an extra step in their progression. A thorough instructed session contains several elements: warm up, drills, progressions, games, feedback, and cool down. It is also good to incorporate a drill or game that encourages continuous movement.

Safety

Always emphasize fluidity, technique, quietness and softness over speed or power.
Always start ‘low and small’, then gradually build to ‘high and big’ incrementally
Discipline people for inappropriate, dangerous, or competitive behavior.
People should know (and be told) that they are ultimately responsible for their own safety.
Remind people that their goal is to progress rather than to do what anyone else is doing.
Look for potential injury
- Multiple people having difficulty with the same exercise
- Areas where people are slipping or clipping their limbs
- People psyching themselves up before engaging
- Uncontrolled landings
- Repeated lack of technique

Ending a Session: It is a good practice to end a training session with static stretches. Also, when people want to continue training but can no longer maintain technique due to fatigue, offer them conditioning challenges as a way to build strength. Remind people to sign up on the website if they haven’t yet.

Notes: