Women in Coaching Programme wraps up with a final Residential Workshop in Auckland

The final residential workshop in May 2022, targeted the understanding and application of player identification and selection. Coaches were tasked with selecting a Trans Tasman team of 12 from their observations across the series. This included working in small groups to be able to plan, understand and apply a selection criteria, and preparing and presenting their selections to a High Performance Director.

Since the programme in 2022, the programme has celebrated Verity Sharland's appointment to Assistant Coach and Kate Trolove as a National Selector, for the Vantage Black Sticks Women's programme. Danielle Cranston was selected to the prestigious High Performance Sport New Zealand Women's Coaching Programme and contracted to provide coaching support to the Auckland Performance Network and Vantage Black Sticks Programmes. Jolene Casey (2022) and Verity Sharland (2021) were recipients of the Hockey NZ Contribution to Coaching Award, and Jolene has moved into a full time role in coaching and coach development with Otago Hockey. Many of the coaches have also been involved in developing coaching resources such as articles for the Resource Hub, as well as supporting the review and finalisation of the Training Activities Library.

Looking ahead, the learning captured from the programme alongside the findings from the High Performance Review, Project Kahurangi, will help inform the direction and design of future development opportunities for coaches and support the growth of female coaches. The group have continued to support one another since the formal completion of the programme and will no doubt continue to develop their coaching and achieve their individual goals.

Hockey NZ would to acknowledge the commitment and engagement from coaches involved in the programme, thank the facilitators who have supported the various development opportunities, and make a special thank you to the programmme leader Pat Barwick.