Athlete Success Profiles

Hockey NSW will build on  the strengths of the past, where principles in the technical and tactical area of athlete development  have been successfully shared and delivered.  

By developing holistic player attributes and  creating learning environments where training, competition and selection take place, players will be  supported to develop as people and performers. Athlete success profiles that are age and stage appropriate across  five areas of holistic development have been identified and align with Hockey Australia's BIG 5. These aspirational success profiles will guide development, inform selection and encourage self reflection for continuous improvement.

 Click on the images below to download the relevant Athlete Success Profile

Hockey NSW has engaged Katrina Mulcahy as our Athlete Well-Being & Culture Consultant who will be working with our players, coaches and staff to better support holistic athlete development. 

Katrina is passionate and successful at helping athletes, parents and coaches to understand the link between personal happiness and sporting performance. 

Balancing wellbeing and performance while promoting a culture of inclusion and belonging is everyones responsibility.  

Pride Values

  Click here to download the PDF version

As a part of State Teams selection Cycle, Hockey NSW  is committed to:

• Broaden the base for talent identification
• Promoting  holistic player attributes
• Creating a culture of inclusion and wellbeing that supports people to be their best
• Engaging a Selection Manager, reinforcing greater independence and diversity of selectors and communicating selection processes
• Supporting Head Coaches of State Teams, when appointed,  to work directly with selection panels
• Providing a transparent avenue for RPC's, local Associations and RASI to work together prior to State Championships to provide feedback about players based on holistic attributes
• Sharing themed strengths and areas for ongoing development with local Hockey communities 
• Providing a positive player experience

Hockey NSW will be working in a more open, fair, inclusive and transparent way with home training environments to gain a better understanding of the non-technical and tactical attributes of  players prior to State Championships. 

Please click here to view the Hockey NSW Board approved Athlete Selection Policy

NB: Hockey NSW talent development programs (AAP) and partnered programs (Regional and Metro Academies) are a compulsory component of U18 State Squads and Teams development and selection.

Selection Exemption Form:
If an athlete cannot attend a Development Weekend, AAP Camp or other selection event and wish to be considered for selection they are required to complete this exemption form and provide supporting documents.

Hockey NSW is committed to supporting coaches to be holistic leaders focused on people and performance. In the past, strong principles in the technical and tactical area of coaching have been successfully developed, shared and delivered. In order to be holistic leaders, our coaches must be aware of and better understand the competencies, knowledge, experience and personal qualities required by a coach to develop the whole athlete in training and competition environments. To this end, Hockey NSW has developed an aspirational and easy to understand profile of what a successful coach in NSW looks like. 

The aspirational Coach Success profile included below, aligns with Hockey Australia’s performance coaching framework and has been developed to support coaches, athletes and the hockey community to better understand what our coach selection and development approach will focus on. 

Coaches will focus on coaching and providing feedback to athletes linked to holistic player attributes (Hockey NSW Athlete Success Profile - The Big 5). Ideally, team coaching combinations will reflect gender and regional diversity and will begin working together prior to selection events. 

Selection panels will have greater independence and will focus on selecting the best eligible players while coaches focus on providing an athlete experience that includes learning more about areas of strength and areas for development.  In order to be holistic assessors, our selectors must be aware of and better understand the competencies, knowledge, experience and personal qualities required by a selector to assess agreed attributes of the whole athlete in training and competition environments. It's important that selectors work with coaches to understand ways of play; preferred attributes; team/line numbers etc. while maintaining greater independence. To this end, Hockey NSW has developed an aspirational and easy to understand profile of what a successful selector in NSW looks like. 

Team Managers play an important role in planning and delivering an organised campaign that balances wellbeing, inclusion and performance. In order to be holistic organisers, our managers must be aware of and better understand the competencies, knowledge, experience and personal qualities required by a team manager to remain calm, be inclusive and work with integrity. To this end, Hockey NSW has developed an aspirational and easy to understand profile of what a successful team manager in NSW looks like. 

Hockey NSW is working to finalise procedure and criteria squad and team personel appointment guidelines. 

Coach Developers will be engaged by Hockey NSW for State Teams Coach Development to compliment accreditation and ongoing  development opportunities. Lead Coach Consultant, Larry McIntosh will play a key role in developing people and resources that suppport holistic athlete development.

Hockey NSW's Coach Success profile provide a strong base for coach development.

Priority areas for State Teams Coach Development have been identified for 2023 and include:

1. Campaign Planning and scheduling 
2. Technology – better utilising data and video to improve performance
3. Integrating an inclusive performance culture with wellbeing into training, selection and competition environments – PRIDE values in action (working towards zero tolerance for poor values/conduct)
4.  Compelling Communication:
   • Sharing competition vision and strategy
   • Planning, running and linking team debriefing to game goals
   • Using positive athlete feedback loops; gender, cultural and diversity aware language/style
   • Performance conversations
5. Debriefing; Self-reflection; Auditing – measuring the right observations and data for continuous improvement

NB: Formal Coach Accreditation programs will be conducted in October/November 2022 aligned with Hockey One and again in February 2023 aligned with Pro League

 Click here to access more information on what Hockey NSW is doing in the State Teams Coach Development space in 2022.

Six principles of selection were identified for 2022 that are relevant to Hockey NSW strategic priorities for 2022 and the 2021 Review of Under 18 State Teams.

They aimed to support Hockey NSW to provide inclusive and positive experiences on and off the pitch for State Teams while mobilising staff to support Associations with participation drives.

The principles will be implemented in 2022 to meet Hockey NSW’s duty of care requirements  and refined based on key learnings. They have informed the 2023 Hockey NSW Board approved Athlete Selection Policy as well as the Squad and Team Personnel Appointment Guide.

 Click here to download the Six Selection Principles (PDF)