WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND IN COACHING? 

"I first started testing the waters of coaching hockey in 2005, during my second year of club hockey and out of obligation, I continued to coach Club for a few years at different grades before taking on a goalkeeping coach role and then tested myself at high school in 2018. 

WHAT DRAWS YOU TO COACHING? 

In 2023, I was more exposed to representative hockey with Waikato U18 men – in 2023, I would find myself coaching in many different settings and was delivering different results across each team, but the most common result was at the end and that was the enjoyment of hockey for the individual which I see many of those players continue to play hockey in 2024. 

WHAT BENEFIT DID YOU GAIN FROM THE COURSE 

At the start of 2024, I completed my coaching course (NZ Certificate in Sport Coaching) with WILSS, during my time on the course, it opened my eyes up to other codes and gave me the opportunity to learn from other peers about the same perceived pressure and problems that we all find ourselves in – by having peers from other codes, we were able to learn from each other and take these learning to our own codes and teams. 

WHAT’S NEXT IN YOUR COACHING JOURNEY? 

I took what I do for granted and with this course, it applied further learning to what I didn’t know that I already did and now by being more aware of this, I can ensure that I continue to deliver my message and coach my team to the best of my ability."