Victoria Grant has just recently been named Head Coach of the Hurricanes Poua for the upcoming Super Rugby Aupiki 2023. She has also coached the New Zealand Mens Under 20s, NZ Black Ferns 7s Development, NZ U18 Girls 7s, Bay of Plenty Women's 7s, and currently her local Premier Men's Club team, Rotoiti. She just loves it, where she genuinely coaches for the love of people and the game. 

Formally Victoria played for and captained both the Black Ferns 15s and 7s rugby teams (including winning a couple of World Cups). She is also a trained physiotherapist, where she manages to balance running a private practice, being a wonderful mother and wife, alongside fulfilling her passion of coaching. It's always great to connect with Tors. 

We yarned about...

• The context of coaching the Hurricanes Poua and other High-Performance teams remotely.
• Enhancing opportunities for female coaches.
• Framing connection, purpose, belonging.
• Her perspective on coaching women and men, similarities and differences.
• The challenges of providing feedback, both formal and informal.
• The power of coaching one campaign at a time.
• Other bits and bobs.

Jesse Rawlings is head of the Pre-Academy with the Wellington Phoenix Football Club (New Zealand’s sole professional Football Club). He brings a fresh approach to how Youth Academies run, where he keeps the players journey as the focus, rather than that of the coaches. He is an absolute sport nut, where he lives and breathes it, noting that he used to pick ‘form team of the week’ for cricket, rugby and football at the age of 6! Legend.

He has also recently finished his Master’s research analysing Junior Sport Development Programmes in New Zealand. He engaged with Rugby, Football, Netball and Hockey codes to gain a better understanding of how youth sport could look and feel.  

He’s a top man with an awesome outlook on coaching and sport. We talked about: 

• Phoenix Academy – what’s the purpose, why does it exist. 
• The philosophy of the Academy. How it is different to some overseas programmes.
• How schools / clubs / coaches could adopt similar principles. 
• Research into Junior Sport Development Programmes (Link to thesis). Why sports are opting for smaller-sided playing frameworks, that have a focus on player engagement and skill-development. 
• More tangents of course.

Leigh Gibbs is an absolute legend in Netball and New Zealand sporting circles. She played 61 tests for the Silver Ferns (NZ National team), including captaining the team to win the 1987 World Champs. She then coached the Silver Ferns as both a Head Coach and Assistant Coach, where the team won the 2003 World Champs and 2006 Commonwealth Games. In 2001 Leigh was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, due to services to Netball.

She has dedicated much of her life servicing the sport and has a deep passion for coaching and people. She is humble, inquisitive, and has a strong thirst for new learning. Leigh is currently the Coach Development Manager for Netball New Zealand, as well as being a selector for the Silver Ferns. It was a delight yarning to Leigh on a range of topics including: 

• Her experience coaching the Silver Ferns.
• What she has learnt from coaching at the highest level and applications to youth coaching.
• "A rising tides, lifts all the boats" - The power of collaboration - both with coaches and players.
• Player-centered coaching approaches, including questioning and relational skills.
• Game-based coaching - drills might 'prove' stuff, where games will 'improve' stuff.
• Much more...

Dave Dillon is the newly appointed coach for the Highlanders rugby team. He has also coached others professional teams including Kobelco Steelers (Japan) & Bay of Plenty Steamers, led player development at the Chiefs. Dave has a background as a secondary school teacher and coach, so we were able to apply learning from the professional game to coaches operating in the youth and community space. 

Through our yarn it was clear how Dave values relationships and connecting with people - a trait that all coaches can nail. He uses that as the basis for his coaching approach. We yarned about: 

• The importance of building relationships and what that can look like
• His time leading a Secondary School Programme
• The balance of Enjoyment, Learning and Performance
• Collaborative coaching environments
• And more

Mark is the current Video Analyst for Waikato Rugby. He has also been the analyst for the Fijian Drua, Chiefs, Canada National team and Bay of Plenty Steamers. As well as his analysis role, he is an assistant coach with the Waikato Men's Rugby team. 

Mark has made a niche from combining his coaching experience with the ability to use footage as a learning tool for players. And apart from that he is a top man. He is very grounded, has a great sense of humour and loves to play the drums in his spare time (he can can keep a sharp beat - 'in the pocket.')

We yarned about: 

• The role of a video analyst
• A week in the life of an analyst
• How youth coaches could use video analysis to help players
• And much more

It was great yarning with the energetic, charismatic, legend of the South Jimmy Sinclair. Jimmy has made a huge impact in coach development where he worked for Canterbury Rugby, done consultancy work for New Zealand Rugby (including being the face of the FABS campaign), coaches the NZ U18 World Schools Girls 7s team and is now moving into a 'Play Manager' role in Canterbury. He also runs his own company called The People Outfit (check it out HERE). 

It's always a pleasure catching up with Jimmy as you'll leave feeling energised and uplifted. It's always fun when Jimmy's around.
 
We chatted about: 

• Play-based approaches
• Player-centered philosophy
• Generation Z and how TV scheduling can explain a lot about current teenagers. 
• Theming
• Hogan Profiling (personality psychology) & how The People Outfit might be able to help!

Cheers Jimmy

Simone works at Aktive in the role of 'Sports Manager,' where she works with and consults sporting organisations within the wider Auckland area. She also consults with Sport NZ on the Good Sports National Parents Project. We yarned about Good Sports which is all about creating positive sporting experiences for children and young people.
 
We covered: 

• A Climate of Performance v Development
• The Good Sports spine
• The roles coaches play in fostering a 'climate of development'
• What empowerment can look for youth
• Play-based learning approaches
• And more...

Good Sports is a wonderful framework for coaches to use. If you are keen for more information on Good Sports, you can access the resources HERE

Zane Winslade is a Mental Skills Coach and founder of Flow Sport. We chatted to Zane about 'Coaching Confidence.' This is a topic many coaches get in touch about. You know...

"In my team, some kids are really confident, where other kids are the opposite end of the spectrum. How do I help my players be more confident?"

We chatted about:

• What is confidence?
• Where does confidence come from?
• How to help players be more confident?
• Goal setting - effort / courage v outcomes
• Using analogies
• And more...

And we chatted about the Mental Toughness Journal that is helping teenagers develop essential skills needed to develop a stronger, more resilient mind. 

Click HERE to find out more about Zane, Flow Sport and the Mental Toughness Journal

Dave is Coach Development Manager for New Zealand Cricket. He has also worked for Volleyball NZ, Harbour Sport as well as being a Director of Sport at a Secondary School in Ireland. He also has his own business, Coaching Unleashed where he facilitates corporate training. He's a passionate, deep thinker who just loves coaching and people development. 

We yarned to Dave about: 

• Observation Skills - An underrated and underdeveloped coaching skill. What to observe, how, operating as a coaching team.
• Smash Play - a new initiative by NZ Cricket to maximise engagement, skill development and autonomy for young kids.

And of course, a few tangents. 

Jay is National Coach for Golf NZ. He is also the host of Coaching Performance Podcast, so it was nice to get him on the other side of the microphone. 
 
We touched on a fair bit including: 

• Skill learning + the importance of play
• How teenagers are engaging in Golf
• How identity can be wrapped up on sport - his own story
• Can coaching intervention make athletes worse?
• The role of representative sport or not?
• His own reflections on youth sport and coaches who impacted on him.