Coaching & Umpiring
Coaches and umpires are the lifeblood of the sport. Here at Western we're committed to giving new and established coaches the resources they need to feel confident helping the next generation. For our umpires, we similarly want to give you the support you need to take your love of hockey to the next level! If you're coaching higher level hockey and want additional support, please reach out to your Club Captains for the best people to speak with within the club!
COACHING RESOURCES
The 4 components of coaching a hockey season
The 'components' system is a way to plan your season to ensure your kids are having fun while also keeping them engaged and improving their skills. The season is split into 4 components that overlap through the season to ensure progression as the season carries on. The section below gived you examples of the skills and tactics you'll need to reinforce for your particular team and suggests drills to help you achieve these
BASICS: BUILD & IMPROVE
~4 Weeks
In the first (roughly) 4 sessions, you should ideally be focusing on the basics. The structure of your sessions will allow you to spend some time doing drills and playing games that begin your player's progression
REINFORCE BASICS & INTRODUCE NEWER SKILLS
~4 Weeks
REINFORCE NEWER SKILLS & ADD TACTICAL CONCEPTS
~3 Weeks
COMBINE ALL THE ABOVE
~2 Weeks
Picking the programmes best for you
Here you'll see the rough progression breakdowns for players in teams at different stages of their hockey journeys. Of the 5 stages, pick the one that best describes the team you're coaching and use the guides within to help plan your sessions. This will make it easy to ensure your players are learning and reinforcing the correct skills and tactics!
Stage 1: Discover Hockey
NEW PLAYERS, FUN/MINI STICKS, Youth b, Division 4
Stage 2: Play & desire to learn
developing PLAYERS, Kiwi/kwik STICKS, Youth b/A, Division 4/3
Stage 3: Compete & improve
Involved PLAYERS, kwik STICKS, Youth A, Division 1/2
Stage 4: Full enjoyment/ Peak performance
Top level PLAYERS, Youth A, Division 1, Premier Grades
Stage 5: lifetime engagement
these can be players from any of the above stages that have decided to make hockey their 'sport for life'
