Into its third year, Core Knowledge targets coaches on the NZ performance pathway coaching pre-high performance and/or high performance athletes, performance coaches intending to transition to the high performance space and athletes at the latter stage of their career or retired who are keen to move into coaching.
“Our 2023 programme received great feedback from coaches and NSOs with themes that particularly resonated including cross sport interaction, face to face delivery and a chance to get into a room and talk coaching with other coaches,” says Craig.
“What we are really delighted by is the great connection of coaches that extend beyond the workshops.”
Craig’s thoughts are reinforced by two of the more than 300 coaches who attended the programme during 2023.
Surfing NZ regional coach, Florian Bub says his first year of Core Knowledge has been phenomenal. “The workshop contents and the facilitators are amazing and have helped my coaching a lot.
“What’s even better are the connections I’ve made with other coaches. Last year’s highlight for me was my visit to Wanaka doing a coaching exchange with Snow Sports NZ and the Cardrona High Performance Centre.
“I’m looking forward to more epic workshops in 2024 and want to thank everyone for this awesome opportunity.”
Para Cycling Performance Coach and Lead Sports Scientist, Damian Wiseman, is a real advocate for Core Knowledge, having completed three Performance Impact components and a nutrition workshop in 2023 and a Body in Motion workshop when it was piloted a few years ago.
Damian points to the increased diversity of sports and coaches as a huge benefit of the programme. “The course content is facilitated well so there’s a lot of sharing and discussion within the group of coaches,” he says.
“I’ve picked courses that appeal to areas of my coaching which I believe can make bigger differences. I come away from the courses, and even sitting in the courses, looking at how I can apply learnings to our athletes and the way I approach their learning, development and our relationships.”
Damian works with athletes with varying challenges and strengths. “The courses I completed in 2023 have helped me understand how I can take the information we cover and apply it to athletes to best suit their needs.”
While the 2024 Core Knowledge schedule is slightly modified with 34 workshops across nine locations throughout New Zealand and with 32 presenters/facilitators contributing to the delivery, the numbers of registered participants is up from 305 last year to 382 in 2024 across 38 sports.
“A pleasing aspect of the 2024 statistics is the percentage increase in the number of women coaches registered,” says Craig.
