Central Murray Coaches Australia

Transcription

1 Central Murray Coaches Australia Welcome Welcome to the second edition of the Central AFCA Newsletter for season With season 2014 now in full swing I thought it might be timely to bring you up to speed on all things coaching within the region. Committee: Geoff Hickmott Robert Masters David Henson Jamie Macri Jim Hirst Three Generations of Coaching Three generations of coaches shared their love of the game and coaching philosophies and values with 80 coaches and football enthusiasts at a recent Football Coaches Clinic held at the Lake Boga Football Netball club. David Parkin, an acknowledged legend of the game. Damian Sexton, ex St Kilda player, all Australian and 12 time best and fairest winner and an impressive, wise beyond his years, 27-year-old elite country footballer and coach, Scott Beattie shared their insights and ideas on the challenges and responsibilities of being a coach and leader of young men and women. Scott Beattie explained the impact that coaches could have on the broader community from which a football club draws its players and supporters. He urged coaches to consider putting in place initiatives and standards that would have positive impacts on peoples lives. Damian Sexton shared his experience of managing out two stars of a team due to their individual approach to team sport. A difficult decision that demonstrated that if there was an exception to the rule, then there were no rule. David Parkin proved that 70 year old football elders could still be vibrant, passionate and young at heart. At the core of his presentation was that performance measurement and feedback, fuels performance improvement. He implored coaches to teach their players to get better ; give their players an opportunity to play and have fun with their mates.

2 Presentation key points: We established a mentoring program where senior players adopted a junior play that they would watch play football and provide positive feedback to. If any player who is still at school and were behind in their home work on Tuesday night instead of training they did their homework to catch-up. We made enjoyment of training and playing as focus. Make it fun; it s a game! Drugs. We have a one-strike policy. You either accept the help the club offers you, or you choose to leave the club. No four figures policy. No player, no matter how good they are is offered more than four figures per game. Culture. It s not what you as a coach or the team stands for that creates a winning culture; it s what you and your team won t stand for that creates a winning culture. Create an environment where everyone s view is important. Every coach needs a mentor. Find one that will challenge you. We need to understand that through the values, standards, structures and team disciplines we, as coaches, put in place that we re providing young men and women with a template to lead healthy, happy and productive lives. CENTRAL MURRAY REGION COMMISSION With the establishment of thirteen AFL Victorian Commissions across the state, the Central Murray Region Commission is now established and has been well underway since September last year. With six Commissioner Roles, members were selected based on various backgrounds, experience, and sporting involvement and achievements. The Commission encompasses jurisdiction for the Golden Rivers and Central Murray Football Leagues, in addition to the Northern District Umpires and Central Murray Umpires. The Commission has been formed to allow local people with knowledge on the local area to make imperative decisions for our regional Football Leagues and Umpire Associations. After 12 months in the role, members intend to speak to all those affiliated with the Commission to determine any current or future issues they may be

3 facing. Using the collated data, the Commission will create and present a strategic plan for our local football clubs, offering recommendations and assistance where required. Alan Mitchell was appointed the position of Chairman of the Commission, and has embraced the position with open arms. Being involved with football for most of his life, Alan has received various awards throughout his football career. Alan spent 13 years on the Cohuna Kanga s Committee, and was president of the club for three of those years. He was also the Vice President of the Cohuna Progress Association. Outside of football, Alan is currently the Cohuna Secondary College Board Member and is also a member on the Finance Committee. Alan is so far enjoying his role as Chairman and is looking forward to seeing the Commission develop into a fantastic resource for the local football community. Kelsey Harding completed her VCE at Swan Hill College in 2009, and then went on to study further at Latrobe University, Bendigo, completing a Bachelor of Business with a double major in Human Resources and Marketing. With this background in business and experience in Marketing through her current employment, Kelsey hopes to make a significant contribution to the Commission. Spending most of her life in Tooleybuc, Kelsey understands the importance of sport to our local communities. Neville Brady s background is in marketing, counselling, and family mediation. He is a self-employed business consultant, providing services in strategic planning, HR performance management, continuous improvement, marketing and change management and business restructuring. With his football career beginning at a very young age, Neville has played in a premiership side, represented the Central Murray League on 19 occasions and has been the coach of Lake Boga. Neville was motivated to join the commission as a result of recognising that local Football/Netball clubs are the gathering place for a community and therefore, is looking forward to using his skills to contribute towards the development of our leagues and clubs. Stephen Matthews is currently employed as the Recreation and Facilities Manager at the Swan Hill Rural City Council. Playing football for 20 years, Stephen was also the Tyntynder Football Club President for four years, and part of the Tyntynder Football Club Committee for approximately ten years. Stephen has been the Central Murray Junior Football League President and the Central Murray Football and Netball League Board Member for five and three years respectively. As a result of having such broad associations with our Regional Football Leagues, Stephen believes it is important to provide help and support where we can. Glenn Stewart is a strong community member within Swan Hill and district, having been involved in sports administration for 12 years. These roles have been held with the Central Murray Football League, Lalbert Football Club, the Central Murray Regional Junior Football Board and the Swan Hill District Cricket Association. Various employment endeavours has seen Glenn in the role of strategic Project Manager for Advancing Country Towns and the Executive Officer of the Murray Mallee Local Learning & Employment Network. Among many other achievements, Glenn has also served as the director of the Sunraysia Institute of TAFE for five years, and established the Mid Murray Higher Education Working Party in 2005 which aimed to increase Higher Education access in the Swan Hill region. Other roles include developing various initiatives and working parties to benefit our communities. Glenn has demonstrated his passion for sports media, working for the past five years for both Smart FM and 3SH commentary teams. Additionally, Glenn has also covered CMFL matches for both the Swan Hill Guardian

4 and the Northern Times for fifteen years. Due to his senior employment positions and love and commitment to local sport, Glenn will be an extremely valuable member to the Commission. Kerang resident, Jim Hirst has worked at the Northern District Community Health Service as a School Focused Youth Service Coordinator, taking him to 55 schools within 5 local government areas. Prior to this, Jim was previously employed as a primary school teacher for 25 years. With such strong community based roles throughout his working life, Jim is knowledgeable in our local area and believes the Commission will make a significant difference to local clubs. For more than 40 years, Jim has been involved in football as a player, coach and administrator. Throughout this time Jim has accomplished many sporting achievements including playing in and coaching premiership sides. Jim has also been a committee member at Murrabit for the past 10 years, as well as the social club president and a senior selector. How do you stay interested if there s no hope of finals? Jamie Macri We re now halfway through the season. It s cold, wet and the bumps seem to hurt more with the onset of winter. At the half way mark we reflect on the goals and aspirations we had at the start of the year. Some of you will be keenly looking forward to the warmer months and playing finals football. Others will be thinking how can we make the best of the rest of the year and keep the players and supporters on the up, given that the finals are out of your reach. And then there are those of you that are on the edge it (playing finals) could go either way. At the hallway mark we should reflect and reset. If finals are a real likely hood then getting your team to sharp end of the season healthy, injury free and fit will be a coaching priority. If you re in the of the middle of pack then your horizon, or focus is more on the here and now, or as the cliché goes focusing on one week at a time. You need to ensure your players are playing each game with the intensity expected from finals football, because every game is like a final. One slip and that s it finals football is out of reach. And then there are those who despite the planning, training and high hopes the season will end at the time it really gets exciting. So, if the carrot of finals football is no longer dangling in front of us we have to dangle something else and redefine what we regard as success; changing our mindsets from group success to individual success. This could mean: Trialling players in unfamiliar positions; giving them an opportunity to have a go at a new role. Looking to the juniors for the next wave of senior players.

5 Or, talking to your group about redefining what they regard as success for the rest of the season. The last dot point I dare you.go on, meet with your team and ask them what they d like to achieve from the rest of the year, both on and off the field. And at the end of season you and your players could look back with a sense of achievement and say, we did it. A peer driven approach to team improvement Jamie Macri Rudyard Kipling was once quoted as saying The strength of the wolf is in the pack. A more modern take on this quote is - A champion team, will beat a team of champions. Don t know who first said this but I think it fits nicely with the sentiment of the wolf quote. So, what makes a champion team? What powers real commitment to achieve? It wasn t that long ago commentators, coaches, supporters weren t using the term structures, today you hear it mentioned at every AFL coaches after the game press conference and in every broadcast. Like a wolf pack a team of champions are highly structured. Clear roles (positions) and levels of authority. All focused on a single goal or outcome (expectations). A clearly defined and understood game plan. An understanding that if one within the team fails, then the team fails. An understanding of each other s strengths and weaknesses and playing to our strengths. How much we care about each other. The more I care about my teammates the more motivated I am to do my role. But, it s my view that even more important than these is your ability, as a coach, to implement and manage team and individual team member performance measurement and feedback! Performance measurement and feedback from someone who we respect fuels performance improvement. Of all the skills that you need to be an effective coach where does this rate in your skills sets? Have you established performance measurement and feedback rituals within your coaching structures? Do individual team members give each other constructive feedback? (and not during the heat of battle when emotions are running high). Recently we helped a club improve its performance measurement and feedback structures by developing a Player Skills and Attitude audit. All players had input

6 into the development of the audit which covered, skills, attitude, and football club involvement. The team s leadership group assesses (scores) each team member three times throughout the season and is challenged by their coach and teammates to improve their scores. If you are interested in turning your wolves into a great pack by using this peer driven approach to performance improvement, then give me a call. Hope your season is going according to your plans. Traditional Rivalry Takes a Backseat to Caring Themes With central themes revolving around Taking Care of Yourself and Looking out for your Mates, a joint information night was held on June 3rd for thirty three Under 16 footballers from Tyntynder and Swan Hill Football Netball Clubs. Family and Carer Mental Health Support Worker Robyn Hosking set the pace early with a request that the boys think about how best they could minimise harm in tricky social and personal situations, where they could access information and from whom they could seek support if they needed it. Robyn congratulated both clubs on their willingness to have the boys participate and admitted to being delighted that so many young footballers were in attendance. You may not all play on the same team but you have a responsibility to look out for yourself and each other and by coming along tonight you are showing initiative and a willingness to be involved in not just your footy club, but in the wider local community Youth Liaison Officer Leading Senior Constable Andrew Downes of Victoria Police provided the boys with an overview of the AFL s Respect and Responsibility (R&R) Taking The Tackle Program a resource for football clubs which amongst other things, promotes messages around resect for women a tolerance for all members of the community and focuses on creating safe and inclusive football / netball clubs. Supported by their respective U16 coaches Tony Mazzarella and Cal Beasy and, in line with the philosophies of both clubs, the session was interactive and informative and left the boys keen for more joint opportunities. Central Murray Football Development Manager Jamie Macri, also present on the night was impressed by the joint initiative and commented raising awareness and promoting leadership within clubs is important, to have U16 boys thinking about respect and responsibility at an early age is a great thing Swan Hill District Health s Hayley Tippett provided key messages around how best to look after yourself before an Introductory Boxing session was conducted by a qualified instructor from the Swan Hill Leisure Centre. Promoting messages around good health and physical activity are important and, despite traditional on field rivalry, laughter and good humor abounded as the boys were lead through a fast paced physical work out. The night concluded with the young footballers tucking into healthy food options, the drawing of the three lucky door prizes and with representatives from both under 16 teams stepping up to thank Robyn for putting on the night.

7 Further information on how best to care for yourself and your mates can be obtained from Robyn Hosking at Mallee Family Care - Phone: Multi-cultural Clinic I learnt more than they did! Jamie Macri Recently, I conducted an AFL education session at the Swan Hill College to explain and educate to multicultural students about AFL Football. I was so pleased with the number of students that attended. I was also very excited at the level of interest that the student showed towards AFL Football, their questions and the enthusiasm to participate and their stories. We do live in a very lucky country. Some of the Multicultural groups were Afghanistan predominantly, Pakistan, Indonesian-Bali, China, India and Vietnamese. It was like the United Nations brought together by Aussie Rules! All students that attended received a free football. The session was also attended by a number of staff from Mallee Family care. Mary Ruane - Team Leader of MFC Settlement Services. Samia Fox and Abida Elahi from settlement services as well. They asked me to speak at a men s new Australian settlement meeting with over 100 new Australian men and educate them about AFL football. I am also conducting Primary School clinics with Multicultural students with the help of Samia and Abida. Look at the smiling faces.