http://www.hockeynz.co.nz/coaching/onlinecoaching/
Brad Jensen has been the Development Manager at Hockey New Zealand for two years, working on participation initiatives and coach development. He has recently taken advantage of SPARC’s new online coaching tool, tailoring it to his sport, and has been impressed with the results.
“It’s been a great way to inform our members about the change of focus in our approach to coaching, from being coach-centred to more athlete-centred,” says Brad.
It only took Hockey New Zealand a month to transfer their ideas into action, which shows just how easy it is to implement the online coaching module.
“I decided to go ahead with the project in early April, and we were able to have it go live on our website on the 1st of May. I was amazed that we were able to publish it and go live within a month,” says Brad. “Our website team liaised directly with Inspire Group (SPARC’s technical support) and the whole process ran very smoothly. They provided us with the story boards, we did a bit of editing in-house, added our own branding and language and it was ready to launch.”
Brad has been pleased with the response from members and other visitors to the site so far.
“They love it,” says Brad. “I must admit, I wondered how much it would be picked up, but our website statistics show that we’ve had 800 hits in May alone, so that’s great for us and the hockey community.”
Hockey New Zealand can also see other benefits for both them and the wider hockey community.
“It motivates coaches of all levels to follow on and update their knowledge through attending our Small Sticks, Youth or Club coach workshops and once it becomes more well known, people will return annually to refresh,” says Brad. “It’s also another way to point people in our direction and increase awareness of what a great game hockey is.”
“I’d recommend this tool for all other sports,” says Brad. “It’s great!”
Brad is also planning to add other modules that are more hockey-specific and is working towards these over the next few months. Keep an eye out on their website for more great online tools at the Hockey NZ website.
