The UKSCA Accreditation: Will it develop you as a practitioner? – A reflective piece
by Eoin Clarkin
‘Olympic Lifting! Ladders! Acute: Chronic Ratio! The UKSCA!’
There are a handful of topics in the S&C World that really seem to divide our practitioners. In this article, I will focus on my own personal experience and approach to the accreditation process, and how it may help to develop you as a practitioner.
‘Essential – UKSCA Accreditation or must be able to complete in the next 6 months’ is a line we so often see on S&C job adverts in the United Kingdom. This was the same line printed on my contract at the new role I was starting, and ultimately what lead me on my journey to becoming an accredited S&C coach.
What is the UKSCA Accreditation?
There are four assessments, each designed to test the coach’s applied knowledge and practical coaching skills. The four assessment areas are:
The Case Study
The Multiple-Choice Exam (MCQ)
The Olympic Lifting Practical
The Plyometrics, Agility & Speed Practical
In the new format, you can choose to sit all four exams on the same day, or you can sit as few as one exam at a time. Each of the four areas has a workshop that you can attend (for a cost) to help prepare you for the exam. Although workshop participation is not compulsory, it is advised. I chose only to attend the Olympic Lifting workshop myself. And while the first-time pass rate for the Case Study and MCQ is in the region of 50%, the pass rate for the practical exams is far lower at 25%.
Equipped with an outline of the accreditation, I set out a plan to tackle the exam. In order to develop this plan, goal setting was essential. My goals were simple:
· Try to pass every exam first time.
· Use each module as an opportunity to develop myself as a practitioner and brush up on each specific area.
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The Case Study:
First up was the Case Study. The aim of this assessment was to design, deliver and document a three-month training block with a real-life athlete. A needs analysis of the sport, session examples and content, periodisation, testing, and monitoring were just some of the areas to cover. Once this is complete, you are then expected to present your Case Study to an assessor.
For each assessment, I asked myself ‘How can I use this exam as a learning opportunity or an opportunity for future development?’ and ‘What will give me the best chance of passing the exam?’
I came up with two areas of development. Firstly, I decided to use a Goalkeeper as my choice of athlete as I felt I could learn more about the physical demands of this specialised position. Secondly, keeping in mind that the fear of public speaking - Glossophobia - is the most common phobia in the World, affecting over 73% of the population - I decided to learn how to speak in public, with the help of a brilliant coach called Skyler Shah.
Each day, my role requires me to participate in staff meetings and deliver physical performance programmes to large groups of elite athletes and coaches both on and off the pitch. In our profession, we are coaches, teachers, and at times we even take on the role of a salesman. Becoming an effective public speaker will only benefit us on our journey.
The modern practitioner has been criticized for lacking communication and delivery skills with a new bias towards data and technology. Clear pronunciation, breathing, pitch, pace, pause and tone, eye contact, body language and posture are just some of the traits of great public speakers. I would insist that these are also the same traits of great coaches. These very trainable skills have made me a more effective practitioner by boosting my confidence and enhancing the most important area of my toolbox, ‘My delivery’.
A high level of knowledge is useless to a coach who cannot teach or transfer that knowledge to their athletes. For example - a coach who understands the technical model for acceleration inside out, but put them on a pitch and they have no idea how to transfer that information to the athlete - this coach will struggle to progress if they do not work on their communication skills.
2. The Multiple-Choice Exam:
60 minutes to answer 50 questions on a variety of subjects such as anatomy, physiology, energy systems, the training environment, biomechanics and human movement, testing, monitoring, and planning.
To pass, you needed 65% - 33 correct answers.
I once again asked myself, ‘How can I use this exam as a learning opportunity or an opportunity for future development?’ and ‘What will give me the best chance of passing the exam?’
Useful tips for passing the exam:
Use the past papers. Set a timer, sit a mock exam, and mark yourself. Don’t look at the answers until you’ve completed the exam. Once you’ve marked an exam, read through the correct answers, and look for particular areas of weakness and target them in future study. (Papers can be purchased from the UKSCA here)
Thinking outside the box: The US equivalent of the UKSCA is governed by a body called the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and the corresponding exam is called a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). Similar to the UKSCA, this exam is designed to test the coach’s applied knowledge and practical coaching skills. However, the CSCS is purely written as a MCQ exam. This got me thinking, why not kill two birds with one stone and prepare for both at the same time? Completing both qualifications would surely open up more opportunities and potentially jobs in the US if that was ever something I was interested in. The NSCA Pocket Prep Quiz app and exam book (Essentials of strength Training and Conditioning) were both really useful resources to prepare for this exam.
3. The Olympic Lifting Practical
In this practical exam, you present one-on-one to a UKSCA assessor. This assessment is split into two sections. The first lift is the ‘Full Back Squat – High Bar position’ and the second is either a ‘Clean & Jerk’ or a ‘Snatch’. You are expected to demonstrate all lifts competently, as well as giving a verbal breakdown of the technical points of each phase. This is then followed by a Q&A to give further clarification or to dig a little deeper into the detail.
Remember: “How can I use this exam as a learning opportunity or an opportunity for future development and what will give me the best chance of passing the exam?”
With this in mind, my aim was to become a more competent lifter, but to also learn and deliver the technical model. This is how I met Adam Warwicker, a UKSCA accredited, British Weightlifting licensed coach and tutor based in Lee Valley. I trained with Adam for three months, practising the lifts and using rest periods to pick his brain. Switching from a coach to an ‘athlete’ and feeling what it was like on the other side, was a nice change and made me reflect on my own processes as a coach. During my time with Adam, I became a more competent lifter and breaking down the lifts really helped me to understand the technical model.
Back at Arsenal, I spent time with two friends in the field, Paudie Roche and Ian ‘Jonesy’ Jones, two excellent practitioners who know their way around a ‘Clean and Jerk’. I practised the techniques I’d learned from Adam, with the lads helping to fine tune my lifts with little tweaks here and there. Jonesy would later run me through two mock exams taking on the role of a very thorough assessor, helping me on my way to passing the real thing first time.
4. The Plyometrics, Agility & Speed Module:
In this practical exam, you are expected to prepare and deliver a coaching session to another candidate, who acts as your athlete on the day. The 20-minute exam is split into four sections: Planning (2min), Warm Up (4-5min), Plyometric / Ballistics (4-5min), Speed & Agility (4-5min) with a Q&A at the end. There are 6 different scenarios, each randomly assigned to you on the day. You are marked on your ability to coach and your knowledge of the technical models.
“How can I use this exam as a learning opportunity or an opportunity for future development and what will give me the best chance of passing the exam?“
This is where I met my current mentor and friend, Sam Portland. Sam is a specialist in speed development with a particular interest in Game Speed in team sports. After my first call with him, I knew that he was the man to help me become a better coach and defeat this exam. What I did not know was, that Sam would teach me a lot more than just speed.
A good mentor will offer you guidance, support, and feedback. Having someone to confide in and learn from who’s been in your position has been invaluable for me. I thought I’d come to Sam to help me pass an exam but in reality, I’d just worked 26 days in a row and was reaching the point of burn out. My dual role with both club and country was beginning to take its toll. As coaches, we spend every minute looking after others, and sometimes we neglect ourselves. Working with Sam has shown me how to improve my work-life balance, see scenarios through a different frame, create boundaries, look after myself and ultimately become a better coach - along with passing the exam, which I’d believed to be my most important goal.
Summary
Time to answer the big question:
The UKSCA Accreditation, will it improve you as a practitioner?
I can only answer this question using my own personal experience:
The Case Study forced me to develop an improved physical framework for the Goalkeeper position, one which I now use every day with my keepers. The public speaking course I undertook, has been a game changer in my delivery and coaching.
The multiple-choice exam allowed me to brush up on the foundations such as anatomy and physiology, while also building a platform to pass the CSCS exam and opening up opportunities in the US.
The Olympic lifting exam showed me what it was like to be an athlete, encouraging me to reflect on my own processes. It also taught me how to lift competently. I now feel confident teaching these lifts, when appropriate- another tool in the toolbox.
The Plyometric, Agility and Speed module lead me on a journey to mentorship; something I would encourage every single coach to undertake if they are serious about professional and self-development. Working with Sam and towards the exam has massively enhanced my competence as a coach around the area of speed, agility and plyometrics.
I understand that this approach I’ve outlined is costly. I was lucky that my employer was covering the cost of the accreditation. This allowed me to use my own funds on a public speaking coach, an Olympic Weightlifting coach and a speed specialist. However, I do believe that your approach to anything can be either glass half full or glass half empty. The reality is that the UKSCA is a requirement for the majority of S&C jobs in the UK. Prepare well, find an expert in each area to give you feedback, sit mock exams and you will give yourself the best chance of passing. If you want to take it one step further, think outside the box and use the exam framework to develop and refine you as a practitioner, while adding more strings to your bow.
Ultimately though, there is no accreditation or exam that will wholly prepare you to coach a group of 20+ athletes, develop soft skills and relationships, collaborate and work as part of a team, and make decisions under pressure. These skills, as well as your delivery as a coach, are developed first and foremost through experience, contact hours and consistent self-reflection
Eoin Clarkin
Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach Arsenal Womens Football Club. Head of Athletic Performance at FAI U21s MSc | ASCC | CSCS | UEFA B
For more content from Eoin, follow him on Twitter (@eoinclarkin)
Join a growing network of professionals in strength and conditioning and sports science. Get involved in discussions with world-leading practitioners and use our forum to make invaluable connections.
