Developing The Next Generation of Hockey NSW Coaches

Above: Under 15 Boys Stars Coaches Michael Little & Tracey Preston with Hockey NSW Coach Development Consultant Larry McIntosh.

Holistic coach development has firmly been put at the top of Hockey NSW’s priority list during the recent Under 15 & 18 Australian National Championships this past week.

Several major initiatives and changes have been put in place at both tournaments to expand the knowledge, competencies and experience of our team coaches, and to refine the required personal qualities needed to be an effective and successful leader.

The first of these initiatives has been the introduction of a new coach developer role to provide guidance, feedback and advice to our State Team coaches on the ground.

Hockey NSW’s current Coach Development Consultant and esteemed hockey figure Larry McIntosh was on the ground in Newcastle undertaking the new role, while current NSWIS head coaches Brent Livermore and Ben Senior oversaw the coaching group in Cairns.

With hands-on support and mentoring, it is hoped that our pool of representative coaches will gain a greater awareness and better understanding of the competencies, knowledge, experience and personal qualities required b to develop a whole athlete in training and competition environments.

“Hockey NSW wants to support coaches to be holistic leaders, focused on both people and performance. By engaging experienced and leading mentors like Larry, Brent and Ben, we are helping to build the all-round capabilities of our next generation coaches,” said Emma Highwood, Hockey NSW CEO.  

The role will be reviewed and refined over the coming weeks, ahead of the remaining Australian National Championships in 2022.  

Above: Girls Under 18 Blues Assistant Coach Thea O'Sullivan.

One of the other most important changes implemented by Hockey NSW at these Australian Championships has been the introduction of male and female coaching combinations across every team sent away.

It is hoped that this ongoing change will better reflect gender equity over the coming years, increase gender awareness, and address the current imbalance in ratio of male to female coaches in NSW.

Many of the female coaches appointed to lead our Under 15 & Under 18 NSW teams this year are part of our ground-breaking “Towards 60” program, aimed at increasing female coaching representation to 60%, to mirror current on-field participation rates.

“A significant amount of work has been done over many years to ensure hockey is the most gender-balanced sport in Australia, and it is very important that our pool of coaches now starts to also reflect that balance,” says Highwood.

“The work done being done by Casey [Sablowski] and Kate [Jenner] with the Towards 60 program is fantastic and we’re now reaping the rewards.

“These talented female coaches are taking the next big step in their careers, leading our best and brightest young athletes on the field on the national stage.”

Above: Under 15 Girls Stars Head Coach Katie Nolan & Under 15 Boys Stars Assistant Coach Tracey Preston

As part of the current Pathway Review being undertaken by consultant Clare Prideaux, Hockey NSW have identified four key themes and priority areas for coach development during the remainder of 2022. These are:

1. Technology Utilisation
2. Building an Inclusive Performance Culture (including wellbeing)  
3. Compelling Communication (vision, strategy, planning, feedback, awareness)
4. Debriefing, Self-Reflection & Auditing

Additionally, Hockey NSW has developed an easy-to-understand profile of what a successful coach in NSW should look like. The Coaching Success Profile aligns with Hockey Australia’s performance coaching framework, and has been developed to support coaches, athletes and the hockey community to better understand what our future coach selection and development approach will focus on.

Click here to view the Coaching Success Profile or to read more our work in the Coach Development space on our Pathway to 2032 Hub.