NNSW and FNSW combine to deliver courses for School Teachers Professional Development

Northern NSW Football Coach Education Coordinator Tom Oldaker partnered with Football NSW to deliver Professional development football coaching course for current school teachers.

“There were 11 teachers who attended the day from local primary and high schools.

“Due to the different levels of experience in coaching and playing football we ensured the course was delivered to challenge coaches individually,” Oldaker stated to Football NSW.

The key outcomes of the course were to develop good coaching behaviours which would improve the players experience.

The coaches were asked to put on practices to suit the age and level of ability of the children they would expect to coach, which could range from stage 1 to stage 3 or year 1 to year 6 children.

“The tasks for the coaches were to get practices started quickly, modify the practice to provide a challenge and identify a good role model within a practice to confirm player understanding,” Oldaker said.

“The coaches had plenty of opportunity to coach and practice developing their coach behaviours. Coaches were provided with a self-reflection checklist which identifies important coach behaviours. “This checklist provides coaches with the basic tools to develop those behaviours away from coaching courses.

“We worked together in providing feedback to ensure coaches understood the process involved. Coaches were really receptive to feedback and took feedback on board which was visible with their improvements in the delivery of practices.”

Football NSW Coach Education Manager Oscar Gonzalez praised Oldaker’s presence.

“Tom is high level facilitator with excellent presentation skills and a wicked sense of humour.

“The feedback has been extremely positive and the teachers were very happy with the outcomes of the course.

“Working closely with Tom demonstrates how well we work collaboratively together, we jointly deliver courses for school teachers across NSW.”