Recreational Running Coach

The first step is to register for a one-day, practical course (organised by your State / Territory Athletics Association).

To see a list of all upcoming coach accreditation courses, please refer to the Coach Education Calendar. 

Note: once you have enrolled into the course, you will be given access to the online modules and assessment tasks via the Athletics Learning Centre.

The Recreational Running Coach course offers flexibility with both online and face-to-face delivery options available.

• Facilitated Learning (in-person course): Available either online or face-to-face

• Online modules and assessment: Available online only

For the online facilitated learning course, you must participate in five 1-hour sessions, facilitated live. Attendance and active participation are required. These sessions will not be recorded.

The online modules and the assessment can be completed at your own pace.

To get started on the Level 1 Recreational Running Coach accreditation, here’s what you need:

• Age: Must be 16 or older.

That's it! No special skills or prior knowledge needed! It's perfect for anyone who loves running (or love-hates running...) and wants to kick-start their coaching journey.

To achieve the Recreational Running Coach (Level 1) accreditation, you’ll need to complete a Short Answer assessment. This assessment is designed to test your ability to apply the key coaching principles covered in the course.

Here’s what it involves:
1️⃣ Design an interval session tailored for a group of runners.
2️⃣ Write an email to an athlete, explaining the purpose of their training program.

The assessment is practical and mirrors real-life coaching scenarios.

The assessment is completed online via the Athletics Learning Centre. You are given two attempts to successfully complete the task.

The cost of the Recreational Running Coach accreditation is determined by the State/Territory Athletics Association, so it may vary slightly depending on your location.

Generally, the course costs around $270, which includes both the practical course and online modules. Plus, if this is your first coaching accreditation, you’ll also get one year of complimentary coaching membership and insurance.

For more detailed pricing information, please contact your local Athletics State Association.

At the completion of the this course, coaches need to be able to demonstrate the following behaviours and skills.

• 1-RR-1: Provide a physically and psychologically safe training environment.

• 1-RR-2: Use effective communication strategies to provide instruction, demonstration, analysis and feedback.

• 1-RR-3: Understand motivations, barriers, and recreational running market participation trends.

• 1-RR-4: Understand the risks and consequences of running injuries and employ basic injury prevention and referral strategies.

• 1-RR-5: Understand and create an effective warm up and cool down using the RAMP protocol.

• 1-RR-6: Plan and deliver a training session using common run training elements including long runs, recovery runs, intervals, tempo, threshold, fartlek, speed endurance, mobility, and body weight strength sessions.

• 1-RR-7: Understand the technical model of running and make appropriate technical adjustments to runners.

• 1-RR-8: Understand the three energy systems, how they contribute to running performance, and how they can be trained.

• 1-RR-9: Understand the principles of training, including progressive overload and how it relates to athlete adaptation.

• 1-RR-10: Plan safe and effective training progressions to gradually develop running fitness.

• 1-RR-11: Create an individualized campaign training program to prepare a runner for their target event.

All accreditation courses have an option for recognition of prior learning. You can find more information here.