With the inaugural VNSW Coaching Symposium just under three weeks away we are excited to go a little deeper into our amazing line up of presenters, professional coaches and professionals who specialize in developing coaches.

Culture will be the backbone of the symposium and each presenter will bring their own tools and insights to life based off their unique qualifications and experiences. This will be Volleyball focused for the first half of the day with the second half being focused on supporting coaches becoming better at the skill of coaching.

Tickets including an event Polo will only be available until March 29^th. General tickets will be available until April 6th. Tickets can be purchased here VNSW Coach Symposium | Volleyball NSW

Through the coaching symposium VNSW is seeking to achieve three specific outcomes

1. Host a state wide coaching community event
2. Give a platform for world class Volleyball coaches to present in Australia
3. Drive coach development through best in class tools, educators and facilitators

This will be achieved through varied learning and sharing environments, networking breaks and facilitated sessions focused both on the individual and the collective. Attendees will have opportunities to engage with expert coaches and leaders, connect with coaches from around NSW and contribute to a greater conversation that will guide the future of coaching in NSW.

To kick off the day Head of Pathways Martin Reader will open the day and offer some cultural elements and insights from within the Phoenix Pathway. Phoenix Head Coach Chris Todd will then follow with a presentation on the “autonomous athlete”, optimal learning environments and the culture of empowering an athlete to drive their own development.

Headlining the symposium will be Sr.Men’s Volleyroo Head Coach Dave Preston. This session will be volleyball focused and will dive into Dave’s coaching philosophy, the cultures he has built throughout his career and what elements of coaching that are important to his environments. Following this Martin will facilitate a Q&A where coaches will have the opportunity to engage Dave and Chris in an open forum.

Following a catered lunch the symposium will then shift gears from specific Volleyball content to targeted elements of coaching and coach development.

Leading the physical piece will be Christopher Webster who is the Head Phoenix Physical Therapist. Chris will be sharing his Sr.Pheonix injury testing and prevention study from the 2022 AVL season. Chris will offer his findings, insights into physical issues coaches should be aware of, easy tests to indicate the physical readiness of athletes and simple injury prevention strategies coaches can prioritize with their teams.

Moving into the skill of coaching, NSWIS High Performance Coach Advisor Bradley McGee will be leading a two part session on coach reflection and self improvement. Part one will be a presentation on the importance of self reflection and will introduce an AIS self assessment tool to guide that conversation. Part two will be an interactive dive into self reflection where Brad will facilitate the AIS tool in real time. This engaging session will have significant value appreciating his professional experience and the quality and research backing the AIS tool.

Shifting to the mental and environmental aspects of coaching, Tom Livsey will be leading this conversation based on his his journey as an athlete, S&C coach and currently as the Wellbeing Advisor with the NSWIS and Australian Sailing Team. He will be presenting on learning environments, pathways focused skill acquisition and player leadership development.

The final session of the day will be a series of small group discussions with the goal of creating space for sharing and also to work together to develop personal action plans moving forward. This session will also allow coaches to provide VNSW with ideas on what coaching issues are currently being experienced and possible solutions for those issues.

The coaching symposium will conclude with a social at “The Lockeroom” across the street from NSW Rugby League headquarters in Sydney Olympic park where the day will take place.