Ryde Juniors Coaching Programs
Ryde Coaching Programs are Recognised as Leading Globally
Going above and beyond to educate and develop talent, Ryde Hockey Club Sydney Coaching Programs have turned hockey in a positive direction, with a successful junior and coaching program.
Focussing on key achievements such as core skills, development and success, Ryde have built programs to assist, develop and educate their athletes, coaches and members, in the hope to produce two Olympians by 2024.
JUNIORS RULE AT RYDE
Discussing the idea of the program and the principles behind it, Collier said, “We designed the program around 3 core principles. Firstly, it needed to deliver an improvement in core skills across all age groups, secondly, it needed to educate the kids on the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle, and thirdly the kids needed to have loads of fun.”
“While there is a strong focus on the development of junior athletes, the real benefit of the program has been the improvement we’re seeing in the overall standard of our coaches. I think our members are now seeing coaching as a real learning opportunity, which is encouraging more people to get involved, giving me the confidence that we can sustain these results well into the future.”
Listing some of their key achievements from the program below, Ryde have reached significant targets.
- Their focus on coach development has delivered 45 level one accredited coaches and 20 level two accredited coaches in the club.
- They have created more than 50 educational coaching videos on their YouTube channel, which their coaches use as the basis of their coaching sessions
- 11 out of their 14 junior teams (excluding Hookin2Hockey) made grand finals in 2014, with 9 going on to win
- They have created a 30 week coaches playbook that provides a week by week breakdown on key focus areas and has been rolled out to all junior age groups
Technology has played a crucial role in developing Ryde’s juniors, not only do they love it and enjoy it, Ryde have found their kids are more responsive to visual feedback than verbal.
“This year we implemented an initiative called the Skills Olympics, where we provided every junior athlete in the club with technical feedback and video of themselves performing 3 core skills. This provided us with valuable data on the effectiveness of our coaching program, and the kids absolutely loved it.”
“The technology is so cheap and easy to access. We’ve found the kids have been really responsive to the visual feedback.”
As a product of their junior program, Ryde’s hard work and dedication has paid off with home grown talent, Tom Craig, Lachi Sharp and Tim Brand playing significant roles with the Kookaburras and Kirsten Pearce with NZ Blacksticks.
To find out more information about Ryde’s junior program, contact Tim Collier via tim.collier@rydehockey.com.au.
For more information on our Coaching Director press here.
Part of the above content was originally published on the Hockey Australia website at www.hockey.org.au