The pathway to developing some coaching capacity gathered momentum when the Coaching Working Group met for a second time to discuss its organisational structure and terms of reference on 12 August.
However, it was quickly realised that the working group needed to expand beyond its original mandate of focusing solely on developing coaching to include managers as well. According to Steve Stannard, it was important to include a team manager capability because nowhere else in Bike Manawatu was this issue being addressed. “Managers go hand in glove with coaching so it made a lot of sense to incorporate them”, he said.
There is certainly lots of enthusiasm out there from a number of members who have expressed a desire to coach. The difficulty Bike Manawatu will experience in attempting to increase its capacity, will be providing the technical training to provide aspiring coaches and managers with the skills they need. Bike NZ courses are oversubscribed and their frequency of course delivery is too slow to meet Bike Manawatu’s immediate needs.
While the working group comes to grip with the situation, it would appear the most pragmatic way forward is to organise and deliver some in house training to aspiring coaches suggests Mike McRedmond. “The working group feels there is sufficient technical expertise amongst the members for Bike Manawatu to at least make an initial positive start to maintain the enthusiasm of those who wish to coach but importantly to get runs on the board”, said Oiroa Kaihau.
At the same time there is a plan to develop some indicative training programmes for those who might wish to ride the 160km recreational events that are offered in the future. This information, along with other resources can be posted to the Bike Manawatu web once the information has been developed sufficiently.
Lastly, the working group also saw the need to canvas the membership for feedback (through an online survey) in response to their needs and desires. The working group expects the feedback will help shape the way forward.