The inaugural Great Britain Coaching Conference took place over the weekend at Loughborough University offering 70 coaches two days of inspiration, education, and connection.

Coaches working at the Performance end of the talent pathway gathered to share the gold dust from FIH World Coach of the Year, Olympic Gold medalist coach, Danny Kerry. England, Scotland and Wales national governing bodies came together to learn and discuss coaching practices across Great Britain.

The aim of the conference was to bridge the technical gap between podium potential athletes and the young players in our talent pathway. These advanced practitioners were given the unique opportunity to ‘sharpen their saws’ by freshening their ideas and finding new approaches to their coaching. Having so many like minded people in the same room provided rich interactions and the energy levels were tangible.

On the Saturday Danny Kerry opened the day with an inspirational talk around international coaching; this was followed by a thought provoking work on practice construction from Wales’s senior men’s coach Danny Newcombe.  

On Sunday the coaches hit the pitch to put into practice some of the principles they learnt on day one. This was facilitated by GB Women’s Assistant Coach David Ralph, who focused on goal scoring and GB’s Rio Gold medal assistant coach Karen Brown, who focused on defence principles. This stimulated exciting conversations and the generation of sound principles to cascade into our talent pathway.

The weekend’s main aim was around the simple message to provide environments that offer the chance to explore actions that relate to the skill development focus. This would mean inviting lots of these actions in game like activities that have plenty of variety and the chance for self organising in chaos. How do we go forward and score? How do we stop them going forwards and scoring?

A fresh perspective, a clearer focus, a new lens through which to look at the game of hockey and how best to succeed and cut through the clutter. For more information about the type of content covered over this weekend please visit the Hockey Hub. If you would like to learn more about GB coaching click here. 

First up @Danny_Kerry exploring and sharing what are the strengths & weaknesses of the 'coach as a limiting factor' #GBCoach17 pic.twitter.com/XvmMLYJxWA

— Dan Clements (@clemo12) May 13, 2017

Thought provoking day at #GBCoach17 with masterful delivery from @Danny_Kerry & @dannynewcombe with a whole lot learned. @CoachAndInspire pic.twitter.com/wrfFqdepJL

— Chris Duncan (@chrisduncan91) May 13, 2017

A brain melt of a day, but in a very good way! Some amazing talks thanks to @Danny_Kerry, @dannynewcombe & @CoachAndInspire #GBcoach17

— Steph Brennan (@sjbrennan12) May 13, 2017

Sun's out shades on #GBCoach17 day 2 is under way GB superstar Karen Brown working on #denyingspace @CoachAndInspire pic.twitter.com/wa3RKcQwA1

— Great Britain Hockey (@GBHockey) May 14, 2017

Challenge players to challenge themselves...how they think and feel in the game is more important than what they do...#GBcoach17 @GBHockey pic.twitter.com/JGrtHIpuRz

— Dr Kate Baker (@KateBakeroo) May 14, 2017

Very interesting being involved in sessions run by David Ralph and Karen Brown this morning. Plenty to think about. #GBCoach17 pic.twitter.com/R4BLHNvCeU

— Darren Cheesman (@DarrenCheesman) May 14, 2017

Absolutely cracking two days at the @GBHockey Coaching Conference. Lots to take forward to help my players, & me, grow!! #GBCoach17 #thanks

— Sarah Bertram (@scouseborrower) May 14, 2017

Excellent weekend at #GBCoach17. Lots of invaluable insights and information with the workshop by @dannynewcombe a real standout.

— Alan Wall (@AlankWall) May 14, 2017