With Secondary School Tournaments just around the corner, we thought it would be handy to share some insights from our experienced secondary school coaches to help coaches and their teams enjoy the week and make some lifelong memories.



• Use free time in a positive way outside of hockey and the stress of a tournament. Making it enjoyable off the field is a great way to create a strong bond within the team and making the tournament memorable. The break away from hockey during a tournament is important and making it fun off the field will help add to the overall quality of the tournament. It could be as simple as everyone having their meals together and being present - no phones, team activities / challenges 



• Identify the key themes you want in a game which might be say three on ball and three off ball points. As much as possible stick to these and use your quarter time and half time talks to reflect on how well you are going in relation to those key points

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• Consider having 1v1 meetings with the players every couple days or mid tournament. This helps to gauge different views on how the team is going. Think about informal opportunities for chats as well, such as meals or team walks. 
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• Tournaments are about being consistent and having plenty of fuel in the tank at the end of the week. With that in mind ensure you are always encouraging your team to take one game at a time and make sure you are well organised with rotating your players. 
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• From a whole person perspective, make sure players have dedicated time to do their schoolwork. Often, they’ll have assessments due around that time, and that distracts them if they don’t have time to keep up.
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• To get the best out of players they need to be confident. Focus on what is going well and the strengths of your players and team.
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• Define success, have an agreement on what success looks like for your team, school, and supporters. Then make sure you stay true to this during tournament.
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• Focus on the things your team can control. Have your players focus on the process, not the outcome. The score board is not always a good indicator of how well your team played 
  



Thank you to all the coaches who contributed, and special mention to Mitch Hayde for leading the collection of information. All the best for your upcoming tournaments.