Safety is and should always be the primary concern in any activity. As a coach you are responsible for the safe planning and supervision of activities and sessions.  Being able to observe, make dynamic risk assessments and adapt the session as you see potential risks and dangers. 

Remember: When establishing coach to participant ratios, only those who are 18 years of age or older should be counted if they are assisting in the supervision of younger children. You have a duty to care to any under 18 coaches and helpers, and they should also be counted in the coach to participant ratio.  

For example, a coach is running a tennis session with 16 participants aged 12 and has two sixteen-year-olds helping with activities and ‘hitting’ as young leaders.   They have 16 people to consider and therefore require 3 coaches/adults to run the session.

Relationships suffer when the ratio is too high, the opportunities to connect with the individual disappear as you try and manage larger numbers. Providing participants with time to check in on ‘how they are travelling’, understanding what is happening for them and what their current motivations and priorities are.  

In its simplest form, can you observe, speak to, provide feedback and support to everyone in the session to ensure they are engaged and progressing? 

Working with smaller groups enables you to personalise and spend quality time with individuals to ensure that they understand the messages.  It enables you to provide personalised explanations, revisit demonstrations, provide specific feedback and support the individual’s you coach. 

Whilst these three general principles apply to Great Coaching consideration should also be given to the age and experience of the participants.

Younger and less experienced participants will need more guidance and supervision.  They will be looking to you as the coach to provide instruction and feedback, as they become older and more experienced, they will use internal feedback and take a greater responsibility for their own learning and development. Your role in their development shifts.   

Sports-specific risk should also be considered. Supervising a swimming session has very different risks to coaching a trampoline session. An activity that has higher risk activities such as heights, working outdoors, physical contact all require consideration on the ratio to ensure that everyone is able to be safe, supported and supervised to maximise their development and enjoyment. 

UK Coaching supports the NSPCC recommended ratios when coaching based on the age of the participants: 

Under 2 years - one coach to three participants (1:3) 

2 - 3 years - one coach to four participants (1:4) 

4 - 8 years - one coach to six participants (1:6) 

9 - 12 years - one coach to eight participants (1:8) 

13 - 18 years - one coach to ten participants (1:10) 

18+ - one coach to ten participants (1:10) 

Remember that you should always have two responsible adults (ideally coaches) at every session to ensure that it is a safe(guarding) environment.