SLM Training Programs have a broad based curriculum structure & framework that supports Coaches to be effective in their role to acquire and transfer knowledge. SLM is designed to support coaches & satisfy sailors for 10 years, in for their Club to deliver value as a Training Centre.
SLM has addressed rigid narrowly focused mainstream program issues in the design of its educational platform:
Clubs have not been able to deliver value to satisfy & retain sailors. Coaches are operating in dysfunctional systems with inadequate support. There is no means to empower and support a diversity of knowledge to improve the narrow orthodoxy. Assuming these aspects could be fixed misunderstands the complexity of the problem.
Coaches are typically sailors who have specialised technically to achieve & excel. Exposed to a diversity of experiences is unusual & by circumstance, hence that focus on performance will tend to sharpen disenfranchising the inquisitive sailor and those wishing to broaden their outlook.
This narrowness in education is reflected in mainstream course based Curriculums, unless Coaches are very familiar with a subject there is no mechanism to diversify. With so many experiences we have a sea of ideas.
Some boys, girls and women in particular need a broader and deeper contextual approach to stay engaged ie what values and behaviours do we demonstrate as sailors, what is the tactical and strategic game, the complexity of boat design and control and how do we exploit those.
Too often Coaches feel obligated to teach no matter what, unable to see or respond to the broader needs of Sailors who may not be thinking about the world in the same way. Coaches need knowledge to provide a broader experience, permission to play games, or just to go on sailing excursions, a failure to respond compromises participation.
Teaching sailors to think for themselves requires correct information, structure, context and time on the water. Coaches must agree on what knowledge and how that is transferred. There is no repository at Club level to store, improve and disseminate knowledge.
SLM Dinghy Program Development 