Another milestone has occurred in coach development with the NZF Senior Level 2 / Youth Level 3 course being held in the Central Football Federation for the first ever time this month.

The award is part of the advanced section of New Zealand Football’s Coach Education Pathway and made its inaugural appearance at Massey University in Palmerston North, drawing participants from across the Central Football region and further afield.

The staging of the course was another significant step in the governing body’s ongoing goal to bring high quality coach development opportunities to those involved with all levels of football across the country.

“All seven member federations have now hosted the NZF Senior Level 2 / Youth Level 3 Coaching Award since we revamped the NZF Coach Education Pathway in 2015,” New Zealand Football Coach Development Manager Steven Dillon says.

“This illustrates our intent to ensure that Advanced Coach Education is accessible for coaches across the whole country.”

Dillon was on hand in Palmerston North to help conduct the course and was joined by representatives of Central Football, including Hawke’s Bay United coach Brett Angell and New Zealand women’s U-17 coach Leon Birnie.

The team of supervisors was rounded up by Barry Scullion, football development officer for the Manawatu region, and Matthew Kilsby, who performs the same role throughout Taranaki.

The content was delivered to glowing reviews from those taking part, who will now return to their respective clubs and put what they’ve learned into practice.

“The course content is excellent and I’ve got more out of it than I expected,” admits Zane Bull from Levin AFC. “Steve and the coaches have done a great job of making us feel comfortable and providing extremely constructive feedback.”

Belinda Warrington, junior coordinator for the Palmerston North Marist club, attended the course due to her desire to upskill in coaching and found the content on conditioning to be particularly useful.

“That section was really good and it was great to develop an understanding of that area of coaching,” she says. “It was also great to learn to critically plan, prepare, define and design sessions.”

Michaela Boxall, captain of the Massey University women’s team, was another female participant who found significant value in the course and hopes it can act as a successful development tool for female coaches across the Central Football region.

“I’ve always had an admiration for coaching and I thought it’s something I could find very rewarding, so why not give it a go? There been a couple of female coaches in the Manawatu but it would be great if we could get more of us into it,” she says.

The course was not limited to aspiring coaches within the Central region though with Lewis Hart from Otumoetai FC in WaiBOP also deciding to venture to Palmerston North. 

“I saw the benefits of coming from outside the region and learning from other coaches,” he says. “Every coach has their own ideas on how a group should be coached and it’s been really beneficial for me to learn different techniques.”

After coming through the six-day course, the participants will now carry out video assessments of their coaching procedures over the coming months and will also be able to act as coach mentors at their respective clubs, supporting other local grassroots coaches in the process. Central Football will offer continued support by providing a coach developer to all of these newly-assigned club-based mentors.

Central Football would like to thank New Zealand Football, Massey University and Sport Manawatu, whose resources and support assisted greatly in the staging of the NZF Senior Level 2 / Youth Level 3 course.