Coaching for approximately 13 years, Nopens coached épée fencer Tatijana Stewart to the silver medal at the 2016 Cadet World Championships. He also participated in the United States Olympic Committee Coach Accelerator Program held last month in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
How did you get into coaching?
I started in college and found the coach there did not know much, so I attended the Coaches College so that I could learn to teach myself.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
How simple it all is. I thought there was a particular way to teach and learn.
What is your favorite part of coaching?
When the little ones put the puzzle pieces together and formulate on their own. They are the smart ones.
You recently attended the United States Olympic Committee's Coach Accelerator Program (CAP). What is one thing you took away from the course?
The CAP experience will help expose coaches/students to the applied teaching and learning experience that is so often overlooked when teaching. Sometimes we focus on the "doing" of it instead of the "learning" of it.
Date Created: May 2018
