Co-Lead Protocol (Fundamentals)

Fundamentals Coaching · Lesson 16 of 28All lessons

4 min read

How to learn by sharing the room with another coach.

After completing six assist sessions, you'll spend six sessions co-leading with an experienced coach. Co-leading means you split the class: one of you runs certain segments, the other runs the rest. You're both coaching, but the experienced coach is still the safety net.

For the kids program co-lead protocol, see Co-Lead Protocol (Kids).

How Co-Leading Works

Co-leading is collaborative, not rigidly partitioned. You and the experienced coach share the room, with you taking on progressively more of the hard stuff across six sessions. The general progression:

Sessions 1-2: You run warmup + evergreen + retrieval. The experienced coach runs most of the main topic, but hands you one game segment within it to run.
Sessions 3-4: You run the main topic and retrieval. The experienced coach runs warmup + evergreen, but may still jump in with a concept during the main topic if they see something important.
Sessions 5-6: You run the main topic and retrieval with less support. The experienced coach runs warmup + evergreen and steps back further during your segments.

The main topic is where the hard coaching lives: game selection for a new topic, teaching points that depend on what you see, reading the room, adapting when things don't work. Warmup + evergreen is largely running familiar games. The progression gets you into the hard stuff early (a handed-off game in sessions 1-2) while building toward full ownership.

In practice, the split will be less clean than this outline suggests. Two coaches sharing a room will naturally overlap: the experienced coach might add a concept during your segment because they see something, or you might jump in to help with individual feedback during theirs. That's fine. The point is that your responsibility grows each session, and by sessions 5-6, you're driving the main topic with minimal input.

You plan your own segments. Read the curriculum, pick your games, know your targeted goals, and come in with a plan. The experienced coach isn't handing you a script anymore.

You coach your own segments. Communicate rules, coach between rounds, walk the room, give live feedback, adapt when things aren't working. This is the real thing.

What Changes from Assisting

You're planning, not just executing. During assist, the lead coach chose the games and you ran what they gave you. Now you're making those choices yourself.
You own the teaching points. What you say between rounds is your call. What you watch for, what you adapt, what you emphasize. The experienced coach isn't steering you.
You're managing time. If your segment runs long, you're cutting into the other coach's time. If it runs short, you need to fill the gap. Time management is your problem now.
Mistakes are yours. If a game doesn't work, if you talk too long, if your win conditions are confusing, you'll feel it directly. That's the point. The safety net is that the experienced coach is there to help recover, not that you won't make mistakes.

Before and After Each Session

Before class:

Read the week's curriculum topic
Pick your games and know your targeted goals for each
Know the six elements for every game you plan to run
Coordinate with the co-lead coach: who's running what, how will you transition between segments
Have a backup game in case your first choice doesn't work

After class:

Debrief together. This is more important during co-lead than any previous phase because you're both making independent decisions that affect the whole class.
What worked in your segments? What didn't?
How were the transitions between your segments? Were they smooth or did the class lose energy?
What would you change about your game selection, teaching points, or pacing?

The Sessions

Each session has its own page. Read it before that class, then do its quiz and reflection after.

When You're Done

After six co-lead sessions, you move to Solo with Supervision for four sessions. You run the entire class. An experienced coach observes but only steps in if something is genuinely wrong.

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