The following announcement was shared by Field Hockey Canada on their website on April 7th, 2021.

“The coach education committee has been working over the last year to update and advance the coach education workshops and education opportunities for Canadian Coaches,” Beagan said. “We are excited to be able to take the restrictions and limitations that the Covid 19 Global Pandemic has put to the sport world, and pivot in this positive way to be able to offer the Competition Development Coach Education workshop in a digital format, allowing us to reach coaches from coast to coast.”

This workshop has not been delivered in Canada in many years and traditionally is extremely difficult to organize and facilitate due to the geography of the country and the logistics of planning for travel to in person events. As a digital workshop, Field Hockey Canada can now collect a group of world class Subject Matter Experts, and reach coaches from all geographic areas.

Coaches interested in registering for the FH specific workshops will need to have completed the NCCP multi-sport prerequisites

• NCCP Psychology of Performance
• NCCP Manage a Sport Program
• NCCP Design a Basic Sport Program
• NCCP Developing Athletic Abilities

FIELD HOCKEY SPECIFIC TRAINING WORKSHOPS:

The field hockey specific coach training was last offered in 2018 in Ontario as a 20 hour in person workshop. Over the past year Covid 19 restrictions on in person gatherings has been a key driver in FHC updating and modifying all the course delivery to be offered with digital, on line workshops. The Competition Development workshop has been modified for digital delivery and now consists of five modules that can be registered for and taken independently. Each workshops has been designed and will be lead by FHC Learning Facilitators and Subject Matter Experts in each topic.

ONE – Developing Athletic Abilities for Field Hockey – (Register Now)

This 4 hour Digital Workshop will be lead by FHC Sport Scientist Kate Perry.  Kate is the IST lead for the Women’s NextGen program, and owner of Athletes Xcel, a sports performance company that provides Strength and Conditioning and Sport Science services to athletes and teams. The workshop will cover a comprehensive overview of the physical demands of field hockey, planning and monitoring physical training, understanding and utilizing technology for physical preparation as well as case studies and field hockey specific examples. This session is offered on the following dates: April 27, May 1, and May 4. Click here to register. 

TWO – Psychology of Field Hockey

This 3 hour Digital Workshop will be lead by Dr. Veronica Planella.  Veronica is an educator, performance psychology practitioner, NCCP Level 4 Certified Coach and researcher with focus on Athlete and Coach Expertise Development. This workshop will cover the application of performance psychology to the sport of field hockey and a team sport environment including tools, resources and practical lessons that can be used to incorporate mental performance and mental wellness within your coaching context.

THREE – Manage a Field Hockey Program (Register Now)

This 3 hour Digital Workshop will be lead by Kri Shier, an experienced sport and event operations manager and Field Hockey Canada Alumni.  Kri has extensive experience in sport management with international experience at Commonwealth Games, PanAm Cup, World Masters Games and more. This workshop will cover the relationship between the coach and team management personnel, roles and responsibilities, competition and event travel including logistics, finances and budget management, post event reporting and responsibilities. This session is offered on the following dates: April 25, May 10, May 15. Click here to register.

FOUR – Performance Planning for Field Hockey

This 4 hour Digital Workshop will be Lead by Field Hockey Canada’s WNT Head Coach Andrew Wilson.  Andrew is an accomplished leader, educator and coach with experience working with international athletes of all ages on both men’s and women’s sides.  His keen interest in research and practical application of Performance Planning will make this a highly valuable education opportunity for competition development coaches. This Workshop will cover Planning structured training including season design, periodization technical/tactical/physical and mental considerations.  Load management, session planning and player management, gap analysis and monitoring.

FIVE – Field Hockey Analysis of Performance

This 6 hour workshop will be delivered in a hybrid model with digital classroom module as well as an in person /on field practical module.  This workshop will focus on comprehensive analysis of technical and tactical performance elements of field hockey.  Delivery of this workshop will be pending Covid 19 Health restrictions and guidelines for in-person group instruction.  More information on the schedule and facilitator of this module is TBA.

* Dates and times for the Psychology of Field Hockey and Performance Planning workshops are ‘To be Confirmed.’ They will be offered three times each in May/June. Stay tuned for registration links.

SCHEDULE:

FHC will be hosting the four digitally delivered workshops three times each in the coming months.  Interested coaches are encouraged to register and reserve their spots asap.  Each Workshop will accept a minimum of 10 and maximum of 12 participants.

The schedule of delivery, and registration links will be announced in the coming weeks and will be available HERE. 

CERTIFICATION

Coaches wishing to become certified at the Competition development level must submit a Portfolio and be evaluated by a NCCP and FHC qualified Coach Evaluator.

Applications for Certification will open in January and July of each year, pending availability of Coach Evaluators.  Upon acceptance of evaluation, coaches will have six months to complete their portfolio and on field assessment requirements.

More information on the FHC Coaching Pathway can be found HERE.