Coach Development

The Canterbury Hockey Association supports a coach development programme which provides the opportunity for coaches to attend courses and seminars and receive mentoring so as to become a better coach.  Whether someone who is new to sport simply looking for some basic knowledge to coach a team of beginners through to highly experienced coaches wanting to enhance their existing skills and move into high performance based coaching, the framework set out below has something for all coaches.

The Coach Development Framework

Introduction
Hockey New Zealand has developed a Coach Development Framework that is based on continuous improvement through increasing effective coaching skills, knowledge and understanding. The Small Sticks workshops replace the Kiwi & Getting Started courses and the Youth and Club workshops have been introduced to replace HNZ Level One course. The HNZ Level Two has been adjusted to introduce age group specific elite courses.

To stay 'current', a coach who has participated in a Small Sticks, Youth or Club workshop must attend at least one extension module delivered by The Canterburbury Hockey Association or other Regional Sports Trust per year.

Coach Development Workshops will be: 

• Player centred – based on the needs of the athletes and aligned to their stages of development
• Practical – to meet the needs of the coaches
• Integrated – the sport specific knowledge and the general principles of coaching will be applied in a practical coaching environment
• Flexible - to allow a coach to develop at their own pace and also to start where it is appropriate to their needs
• Encouraging continuous coach development by providing suggestions for further self development 

Objectives of Workshops
The workshops, mainly through practical examples, will provide information and techniques for coaches to feel confident to coach players from their chosen age group by:

• Providing a safe playing and practice environment
• Helping coaches to treat every player as an individual person
• Balancing demands to the players abilities
• Recognising that players are individuals who have increasingly busy lives as they grow older – academic, social, employment as well as sport
• Allowing players to learn by discovery and repetition (trial and error theory) but let them also discover through learning
• Recognising that the key to success is by giving positive motivation and feedback to players
• Maximising enjoyment and participation of players

The following diagram shows the current Hockey New Zealand Coach Development Framework.