Suburbs Touch Club has created a player and coaching pathway that focuses on supporting players and player development. The aim is to showcase what the sport of touch can offer, and provide it in a safe, whanau friendly environment.
By doing this, it opens the sport to a many number of players, no matter their age, gender or skill level. Nothing like this is currently offered to the general public, the innovation and ideology mimics the process utilised in Australia - the most dominant Touch Nation on the planet.
Support and teaching can change the way we approach sport
As many of our high performance members make their way through the club, it was identified that the way they were taught skills differ from year to year, coach to coach. this is where the main initiative came to light. We decided that by creating a coaching pathway, this would allow players to experience the same drills, the same layout and the same process throughout the club and at all levels. This then creates the player pathway. because all of the trainings are similar (technical aspects are increased as you move up skill level) they are able to learn more and develop faster, rather than resetting every time the move up or a new coach comes in.
The player pathway allows all involved to quickly understand the process and procedures, thus increasing the development processes as a whole.
It also give players confidence when moving from one skill level to another, making players wanting to attend trainings and skill sessions. they want to to develop and grow within the game, and they will become self motivated to achieve within the sport, and stay active, and social.
as per above, it was identified that this was an urgent need. this is somewhat being provided to the elite players only. with nothing filtering down to new players. thus not giving them the same experience when it comes to the sport we love.
With the process now actively in place, coaches and players alike are confident within the sport, more people are joining the sessions and development has increased.
Touch is currently a sport where it is every club for themselves. we are changing that view by opening the door to anyone and everyone to attend. no matter what club you play for, or if youve never held a rugby ball in your life. by simply showing us and giving it a go, our coaches will be providing you with the most support to help you enjoy your experience.
by knocking down the current view of every club for themselves, we have opened the door to anyone and everyone to have a go at touch. Some people love it, other people are not so sure, by doing it this way, anyone within our community can come down with no threat of being judged. we all have to start somewhere, so why not do it with your mates, or even come and make some new ones!
as a community it allows us to build that bond and support, whilst getting active, having fun and creating a positive environment.
firstly setting the platform for this mahi. we have created a player centric, coaching centric and supporting handbook for players and coaches alike. the increase in members has gone from 32 to 76 as of today, with plenty more to follow once the new touch season kicks off in 2 months time. our participation has increased as well, meaning more players are continuously showing up and actively asking questions, leading sessions and/or drills, volunteering to demonstrate the drill etc. we are always asking our players for feedback, mainly around what they did and didnt like about drills, how we can improve those drills and what skills they would like to learn more on or focus more on. thus improving the experience for the players but also allowing them to control what skills they can focus on to bring them back time and time again. we will be sending out a survey just before the season starts to get an understand of how players think they have progressed as well what could be improved or alter once the season begins to allow players to again, develop faster.
