February 2023, Articles

HPSNZ coaching programme off to a flying start

Coaching Pathway Programmes for 2023 have leapt out of the blocks at top speed with all five programmes in full swing including the introduction of Kia Manawanui Performance Coaching in Action.

The Coaching Pathway Programmes offer five streams to meet the development needs of coaches from the pre-high performance level through to high performance elite coaches.

Wā Kāinga Core Knowledge targets coaches on the NZ performance pathway coaching pre-high performance and/or high performance athletes, performance coaches intending to transition to the high performance space and athletes at the latter stage of their career or retired who are keen to move into coaching.

This highly regarded programme, led by Craig Palmer, has 305 registrations across 37 sports for 2023.  36 workshops are scheduled for the year – 18 in coach craft (Performance Impact and Professional Practice), nine in each of Body in Motion and Energy Systems, both of which include three online workshops.

HPSNZ’s coaching programme for women, Te Hāpaitanga, has a busy year ahead with five residentials scheduled for the first six months of 2023.  The third intake, announced at the end of 2022, undertook their first residential this month in Cambridge with the marae residential to be held in May.  The second intake will complete their fourth and fifth residentials in April and May with a gala event to showcase their achievements scheduled for June.  Programme lead, Jody Cameron, says a key focus of this year’s programme is to integrate activity with other pillars such as the work being done in Women in High Performance Sport and with the Partnership Team Leaders.

Te Tūāpapa Coach Accelerator programme has held its first of four workshops for 2023 with eight elite coaches undertaking the first leadership course at Waiheke.  Programme lead, Christian Penny, says the programme is ramping up its one on one elite coaching initiatives, the first of which was with former Olympic sailboarder, JP Tobin, coaching young national wind foiling champion Veerle ten Have with one on one support from Christian earlier this month.

A programme which leverages coaching wisdom, Kaumatua, targets Aotearoa New Zealand’s master coaches seeking ways in which they can continue to contribute to the coach development pathway.

The latest addition to the Coaching Pathways Programme is Kia Manawanui Performance Coaching in Action led by Daryl Gibson.  Kia Manawanui is a future-focused, coach development initiative designed by HPSNZ to support coaches working with the next cycle of performance athletes.

“This programme fills a gap in our previous Coaching Pathway Programmes and is very much focused on investing in coaches for the long term with an emphasis on the coach and athlete relationship,” says Daryl.

Applications for the 2023 programme have just closed and the first residential hosting is set for May.

With his feet only just under the desk, we asked Daryl to identify his four top priorities for the year ahead as HPSNZ Head of Coaching.

“The priorities in my 100 day plan are growing and consolidating the coaching programme and pathways, getting Kia Manawanui up and running to fill what has been a gap in the programmes we offer, increasing the visibility of the coaching programme with coaches and NSOs and with internal HPSNZ audiences to show how the team and their programmes can help support athlete pathways and, lastly, build on the Prime Minister’s Scholarships for individuals and groups of coaches.”

Daryl paid a big tribute to Lyn Gunson who has guided him in his first months at HPSNZ.

“Lyn’s leadership and knowledge has been instrumental in guiding the coaching team to be able to develop and deliver the current HPSNZ coaching programmes.  I’d like to acknowledge the work she did to adapt the programmes to online learning sessions during COVID-19.  These are very big shoes to fill.”

Head of Coaching Daryl Gibson