March’s Coaches for Europe seminar in Prague proved one of the most diverse groups since the programme began with 16 participants and four mentors from a total of 14 different nations taking part.
Being the first seminar for the new “year one” cohort and the third session for “year two”, the focus was on individual technical skills and individual defensive principles, respectively.
Both groups also had general topics on communication skills while year twos also looked at additional general topics to discuss talent development and how to integrate technology into their coaching.
It was a first step on the programme for Sofia Darnay and Felix Hörnschemeyer.
For Darnay, she says this is a new realm for her but one that is already inspiring her.
She currently plays at the top level in the Iberdrola League in Spain with Jolaseta and likes to think of herself as “only starting” as a coach but, in reality, has been in this realm for many years. She is currently part of the Basque country coaching staff for Under-16 and 18 boys as well as working with her local club RC Jolaseta’s Under-14 girls.
She adds that her most special group to train is the “Papi’s and Mami’s” of Atlético Club de San Sebastián.
In that context, she is ambitious and hopes being part of the Coaches for Europe path will help her “discover my essence as a coach, my identity, my principles, because I am in construction.
“For me, it’s really important to develop my action plan, to know me: my virtues, my defects and how to improve them!
“I enjoyed it a lot, making new friends from several countries by participating in sessions that were interesting and stimulating. In the beginning, I was a little bit scared because it was something new for me, I didn’t know what was going to be and more importantly, I needed to know if I really want to be a coach.
“But day by day I started to feel more confident and adapted to the language, to the context and believe that I can be a good coach. I felt more connected with myself in that way, and with others too. The course helps me to develop my vision as a coach.”
Enriching experience
For Hörnschemeyer, he described it as a “very enriching experience, both theoretical and practical knowledge shared between mentors and coaches.
“Lots of interesting conversations with different coaches from different nations, bringing new insights to my own coaching philosophy as well as seeing how coaches are able to keep up a high level in practice and coaching in partially difficult preconditions.”
He is the current Swedish women’s national team coach, overseeing the side at the EuroHockey Indoor Championship II in Galway earlier his year and the Hockey 5s championship in Walcz last summer. Next on the agenda is a return trip to Poland for the 5s in July.
He sees the course as helping to add to “my existing hockey and coaching knowledge. But also building an international network in hockey”.
Looking at specific elements of the event in Prague, Darnay picked out the following as key items for her which struck a chord with her:
“The importance of the individual technical, without technical skills there are no tactics. First develop an individual player, then a team player to become a top player. Creating an environment where the player should be allowed to make mistakes in order to learn.
“Next, the importance of good communication: what are the keys to connect with your team, like be yourself, show your passion, enjoy the moment, attract attention, inspire, focus on, and above all, keep it simple, sometimes ‘less is more’.
She also added that the shared knowledge and engagement with so many different backgrounds, she says, is sure to be instructional on that front.
“Getting to know other people and other perspectives [is a big thing] because no one sees the world the way that you do.
“That it’s one of your gifts, you have an unique understanding of the world, because we look from our own perspective, and for that we need other people to show us what we are missing!”
“I love to think about hockey [tactics]; when you go to a course like this, you think all the time about it! But I hope to find the answer to the question: where do I want to go?
“Sometimes that doesn’t matter so much because what really matters (as a great person told me on the course) is wherever you go, go with your whole heart, because the true magic is in the heart.”
EuroHockey is thankful to Michaela Urbánková and Gino Schilders from the Czech Federation and Tomáš Procházka and Martin Capouch from HC Slavia Praha for helping to organise this excellent course in Prague.
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** To find out more about EuroHockey coaching courses and the EuroHockey Institute, click here
