High school coaching in the spotlight
ROSEBANK – High school coaches from all over South Africa participated in the 2017 Powerade Performance Academy held at the new Coca-Cola Corporate Offices in Rosebank.
About one hundred high school coaches from across South Africa participated in an informative two-day academy, geared at providing important performance tools and sustainable knowledge.
The 2017 Powerade Performance Academy was hosted at the new Coca-Cola offices in Rosebank on 21 and 22 October and saw some of the country’s finest sporting and mental coaching professionals share their insights.
South African cricket coach and former player, Paddy Upton headlined this year’s academy as its ambassador, while former international rugby union referee, Craig Joubert, sport scientist and medical doctor for Team Dimension Data, Carol Austin and renowned motivational speaker, Robin Banks gave coaches vital information to apply in their respective school training environments.
“Sports coaching is not only an important profession in society but a pursuit, particularly in this country, because sports coaches are among the most influential people in young children’s lives,” said Upton.
He told Rosebank Killarney Gazette, “Healthy modelling by a coach is a way to teach kids the way that they should manage, coach, teach, lead and parent people when they’re older. Given this potential outcome, I think it goes way beyond sport [and demonstrates] how important sports coaching is.”
Upton said the older model of sports coaching – stretching back up to 30 years – was fundamentally authoritarian and placed control solely in the hands of coaches, with no room for an athlete to exercise control over their own personal development within a sport. He added that this method is disempowering and needed to be changed.
“Sport is still very much caught up in that way of coaches interacting with their players in a domineering way. However, people no longer want to be told what to do but want to engage in their own learning, design their own experiences, map their own paths and be a whole lot more autonomous.”
Brand manager at Powerade, Sapna Naran said proactive coaching will do wonders for athletes. “We’re thrilled to be at the forefront of inspiring coaches to motivate their athletes,” she said. “Performance is something that resonates with Powerade, and we believe in creating platforms where coaches can receive the best advice and coaching tips to take back to their athletes.”
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