This winter, every primary school football coach will have the tools they need to become a super-coach. Whiti Ora’s latest project, iCoach ensures that every coach has as much fun as their players.
iCoach is a series of ten instructional coaching videos created in conjunction with Central Football and Sport New Zealand, that are free and available on our website. The videos are aimed at parents who are new to coaching football, and provide tips, warm-ups and games for each week of training.
As Whiti Ora Coaching Advisor Ray Noble commented, “each video is five-minutes long, and provides the coach with a warmup and skill game to play with their team. Because they’re short and mobile-friendly, they’re perfect for busy parents who would otherwise struggle to plan their trainings ahead of time.”
Central Football CEO John McGifford remarked that the videos “provide a wonderful introduction for coaching at a junior level. This is set to be a most useful aid for coach development at an elementary level, development that will flow through for the betterment and increased enjoyment of players in the game.” As Karen Laurie of Sport New Zealand agreed, “Focussing on fun and building confidence around being active in the early years supports all New Zealanders to be motivated, competent and confident to choose being active for life.”
The videos focus on the ‘how to’ of coaching 5-7 year olds, and each weekly video aims to develop a different coaching skill, such as communication, philosophy and engagement. “Now, anyone can coach junior football. All you need is a little spare time and means of viewing our website,” said Mr. Noble.
Mr Noble continued, “Our vision is that every coach utilises this free resource, and has a great season. Then with any luck, they and their players will come back next year.”
To view the videos online, visit www.whitiora.org/icoach