Regional Development Officer

Jesse O'Keefe, Regional Development Officer, Whyalla

Whyalla Hockey Association

Regional Development Officer Schools Development Plan 2018-2020

Vision

To develop a sustainable strong relationship between Schools and Whyalla Hockey.

Mission statement

The Regional Development Officer will work hard to build a strong link between all Schools in the Whyalla region and Whyalla Hockey. This will create an environment which will be inclusive, fun and give every child the opportunity to play hockey.

Success Factors

Links to the local community and schools:

Create and sustain a strong relationship with the local community and schools. Our main focus is creating a positive hockey experience for children and giving all children the opportunity to play hockey. We will work with schools to deliver an after-school hockey competition. Our plan is to build up separate girls and boys competitions and sustain them.

Primary School Plan:

Our Primary School plan is to introduce all students to hockey through a school program. We want to use the school to promote not only hockey, but health and wellbeing. We want to link the school program with the local junior competition and strengthen our relationship with school sport.

We will visit schools in Terms 1-4 visiting every school at least 2 times a year. The visits will consist of teaching children the basic skills of hockey and playing games. We will visit every school in Term 1 and 2 to increase interest in Hockey and link them into when school trainings start for our winter competition. We will re-visit every school in Terms 3 and 4 to increase interest for our junior summer hockey competition.

We will be promoting health and wellbeing by encouraging students to lead an active lifestyle through playing hockey. We will provide the link between schools and clubs for the students to find a club to play for. The after-school hockey competition will help children experience hockey at the local grounds without committing to a club. We will work with schools on the finer details of the competition.

Secondary School Program:

We want to strengthen the relationship with school sport and link schools with the local competition. We want to support secondary schools with Hockey performance programs. We will promote separate Boys and Girls Competitions. We want to provide a better transition between juniors and seniors.

We will start an inter-school hockey competition at the local hockey grounds to provide students the opportunity to play hockey at our local grounds. We will provide details of our local clubs at this event to assist children in finding a club if they wish to continue playing hockey. We will provide support and guidance to the teachers of hockey performance programs. With increased numbers, we will be able to close the gap between junior and senior hockey.

Whyalla Hockey Association Junior Goals:

We want to create a strong junior competition where every school has entered a team into the junior competition in both Girls and Boys competitions.

School visits will link in with junior club trainings to increase interest and numbers coming out at the start of the year. We will provide support to each school to enter a team. We will help to find coaches for each team entered and assist new coaches in development. Develop junior players to participate in Hockey SA player pathway programs. To support and underpin the participation of juniors to represent Whyalla at state and regional junior hockey carnivals. To have full team squads of players representing Whyalla.

Culture:

We want to build and sustain a culture which values good sportsmanship, inclusion, respect and teamwork at all times. The Regional Development Officer will promote these values at all times. We will show students how to promote these values through our actions. We will encourage students to promote these values at each clinic, every training and in every game.

Facilities:

Create a local partnership with Primary and Secondary Schools to use the local hockey facilities to create a positive experience. We will create a positive experience for students by giving them the opportunity to use our synthetic turf allowing them to practice skills and play games on a world class surface. We will encourage schools to transport students to the hockey grounds for clinics.