Sport Bay of Plenty is calling on local community sports coaches to apply for its 2021 Development Coach Advance programme to help them build effective and sustainable coaching practices.
The 10-month programme is open to coaches of tamariki (primary school-aged children), rangatahi (intermediate and college-aged youth) and local club adults.
Applications for the 2021 Development Coach Advance programme close at 5pm on Friday, February 19.
Sport Bay of Plenty community coaching adviser Trudi Kemp said the Development Coach Advance programme is designed to help community coaches focus on their learning and invest in their coaching skills.
"The programme not only helps them, it also helps their athletes, team or club," she said.
"Coaches working with school students or with local clubs are a key part of ensuring the sustainability of community sport. The quality of their coaching can also have a huge influence on young people's decision to keep participating in sport."
The learning programme covers a range of topics including effective coaching practice, athlete development, ways to build and lead sporting environments, skill adaptability and coaching mental resilience.
Past participant Neisha Brooking, a judo coach, said she learned a lot by interacting with coaches from other codes and finding out how others deliver their training programmes to their athletes.
"I like to think I am now a less prescriptive coach and a more adaptive coach that responds better to the individual needs of each of my athletes."
For more information head to www.sportbop.co.nz/development-coach-advance