On Friday 20th January, Michel Kinnen arrived in Gibraltar to conduct a Coaching seminar organised by Gibraltar Hockey Association (GHA) in partnership with EHF and FIH. Michel is an FIH Educator, as well as the National Coach for Belgium’s U21 team. This Coaching course followed a previous successful course only a few weeks before, where EHF mentor Grahame Mansell Grace led goalkeeping a seminar for all GHA members over 16 years of age.
Level 1 Coaching
The objective of the Level 1 Coaching Hockey qualification is to provide an introduction into the core principles of effective management and coaching of hockey training sessions. The course comprises of a minimum of 8 hours of practical sessions, accompanied by classroom and online theoretical support.
The course began before Michel arrived, as all participants were required to complete some online modules. The classroom seminar began on Friday evening, with some basic theories being presented. Saturday brought a ful day of work, with the coaches beginning their training at 8am and finishing after 6pm. The long day saw the coaches put their newly learned theory into practice, and allowed them to begin to develop their own coaching styles and voices. Gibraltar’s Youth sections were led through extra coaching sessions by the participating coaches, under Michel’s guidance and supervision.
Small tips and tricks were shared throughout the day, from how to adapt to the weather to using body positioning to strengthen a particular message.
Sunday began with another classroom morning session, including a review of the previous day’s practical session, before heading out to the next practical. The seminar ended with some final written assessment tasks. We are happy to report that all 15 participating coaches were awarded their Level 1 Coaching certificate!
Supporting National Growth in Gibraltar
With their newly minted coaches, GHA continues to make strides towards its development of hockey, particularly at grass roots level. More qualified coaches means that there are more people to help develop the nation’s younger hockey enthusiasts. The coaches will be able to share knowledge and good practice and will have a qualified Level 2 coach on hand locally to advice them and share his experience.
The European Hockey Federation would like to thank Michel Kinnen for his commitment and work during this training weekend.