CPD Article Of The month
January 2009
As part of a new monthly feature, the Coaching and Education team will provide a feature that is hoped will assist you as a coach in your continued professional development. This months article looks at coaching handcyclists and comprises of extracts taken from the new British Cycling Level 2 Handbook: Coaching Riders with a Disability which was launched on 16th January 2009. Please come back each month for more useful features, that will hopefully assist you to develop your coaching further.
An introduction to Coaching Handcyclists.
As a coach it is important that you are able to integrate all riders into your coaching sessions. A handcycle enables an individual who would normally require a wheelchair for general use, or a rider who is not able to use a conventional style bike or tricycle, to participate in cycling.
Most handcyclists who use wheelchairs on a day-to-day basis will need no additional help when attending coaching sessions as they will be accustomed to doing things themselves. However if they are new to handcycling they may not be familiar with equipment and may feel they need some moral support until they gain confidence. This may include initially helping them from their wheelchair into a handcycle, though most riders will be more than capable of transferring themselves from their wheelchair into a handcycle and back. As a mark of respect, and out of common courtesy, it is always recommended that you ask each individual if they require (or would appreciate) your assistance instead of assuming they need help.
As a coach it is important to get to know your riders and build up a professional rapport with them; in doing this you should gain their confidence and respect. You should establish the amount of help your riders need, or indeed if they require any support at all. If they are struggling, build up a relationship so that they feel comfortable asking you for help.
If riders have acquired their disability recently, they may not have adjusted to it yet, and therefore may be extremely adverse to people offering them help. This is where as a coach, knowing your rider and understanding your role in relation to each individual rider is important. It may take a long time for you to reach that level of understanding between yourself and the rider but being patient and sensitive to each rider's needs is crucial.
By striking a suitable rapport with your riders you will be able to find out:
- if they cycled before they acquired their disability - if so handcycling may be new to them, but they will have some previous skills
- what skills are already established
- if there are any personal safety and health issues of which you need to be aware (eg handcyclists may be likely to suffer with tennis elbow and wrist injuries which may affect how you plan sessions for them).
External factors including weather conditions are an important factor to consider when you are coaching handcyclists:
- In hot weather, as the riders are lower to the ground they will have to contend with reflective, radiant heat from the ground as well as direct heat from the sun and therefore may dehydrate more quickly.
- They also cycle at a lower speed and therefore do not get the same cooling benefits from air flow, causing them to get hotter quicker. Due to the seating position, more of the rider's body will be in contact with the handcycle, making the process of evaporation less likely to occur. This factor might lead to the body overheating and result in the individual becoming dehydrated.
- The body position adopted during handcycling usually results in the riders having the direct sun on their face and chest as opposed to their back, so suitable sun protection is needed.
- In wet weather riders will have to contend with water spray off the ground.
- In windy conditions care has to be taken especially when cornering as handcycles might become unstable and possibly tip over. If an event like this occurs, as a coach, you need to know how to react and help your rider - even though it is very likely they will be more than capable of helping themselves.
As a coach, by effectively planning and organising your coaching sessions, Handcyclists can be integrated and included within all coaching activities. The main difference when coaching handcyclists is the bike that they use. This can cause certain techniques to be executed differently, but does not impact heavily on how you conduct your coaching sessions. Taking the time to build a relationship with your riders is essential for establishing effective communication with them and allows coaching sessions to run more successfully.
For more information on Coaching Handcyclists, the Level 2 Handbook: Coaching Riders with a Disability and our Coaching riders with a Disability workshop, please follow the link below or contact us at Coaching and Education on 0161 274 2060. For more information on coach development, please visit our CPD section within the website.
