A peek behind the scenes: coach development day

 

Nothing here is accidental, and there’s more happening behind the scenes than you might realise. Case in point – MFC's first Coach Development Day for 2021.

For the first two hours the training hall turned into a lecture theatre with a projector, slides, video examples, raised hands – the works. It was a lot like being at uni. Joe treated us to topics in sports psychology, coaching pedagogy, training theory and MFC’s long term athlete development plan. There were so many lightbulb moments (and lots of stuff to revise!) and what stood out most clearly was that MFC's coaching and training approach is evidence-based and grounded in research and best practice. Joe really knows what he’s doing!

But then, what would you expect? Joe is a coach with the Australian Olympic Team and, in Marina Carrier, MFC has an athlete who is bound for the Tokyo Olympics. Yes, we're a fun, regional, community-based and volunteer run fencing club, and also so much more.

After having lunch together we resumed for another two hours of practical work, initially honing our hand and foot timing exercises. Highly technical and precise stuff – we set high standards for ourselves! After that we spent time as a group thinking through how we build larger, athlete-specific lessons, from smaller components.

That we can put on such a day is amazing in itself. That it was so fun and rewarding was even better. But best of all is that every member of the Club benefits from having an excellent coaching team. Once again, the good things that happen here are no accident.

Wanna see some footage? Check out the video below.