The 2023 season was a record year for Coach Development in MWFA, with 1,023 coaches supported across a variety of coaching courses and workshops, as well as training session and match visits.
This total does include a number of repeat customers, however this is also an indication of the positive experience that coaches have had when attending our courses, and the ongoing value they provide. Similarly, more than 70 coaches from outside of the Northern Beaches travelled to take advantage of the opportunity to attend our Coach Development events.
830 coaches in total attended 12 x MiniRoos courses, 5 x Skill and Game Training courses, 16 x Coach Workshops, 6 x Game Leader workshops, 2 x club based coach meetings and 1 x C-Licence. This is the highest number ever achieved in our association, largely due to the high number of dates made available across different clubs and spread out across the entire season, providing plenty of follow up development opportunities to encourage long term learning.
We also doubled the number of training session and match visits compared to last season (200 in total) where coaches were provided with personalised mentoring with their actual team at their actual training session or game, which is the most effective way to help them learn ‘on the job’. Overall, 21% of coaches supported through courses and mentoring were females, which is also the highest percentage we’ve ever seen.
MWFA Coach Development Manager Eugene Lawrenz was obviously very satisfied with this outcome, after a very busy but productive year.
“It’s great to see so many coaches keen to develop themselves for the sake of their players, and credit to all of them, especially those who’ve come back more than once. Slowly but surely, we are starting to see a difference being made with more players having a positive experience in the sport, with more engaging and game-realistic training sessions, and player-centered coaching. I would like to also express my thanks to all of the clubs who hosted and helped promote all of our events this season, as well as acknowledge the hard work and quality of support that was provided to coaches by my team, in particular the Coach Mentors: Gregor Agic, Marilinda Winter, James Mitchell, Sai van Wegen, Catriona Ormond, Nina Sallenave and Patty Faria.”
The MWFA Coach Development team would like to wish every player, coach, club volunteer and parent a safe and happy holidays, and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2024.
