Across the Codes An insight into the five ‘football’ high performance coach development programs, and those who lead them, in Australia Australia has a long and successful history of being a formidable sporting nation across a vast array of sports. In ‘football’ alone there are five major codes, all taking their unique place in the sporting landscape. Consistent across all football codes is the belief that the quality of their coaches determines the quality of their game, engagement of players and ultimately their success. As a result, they all take coach development seriously and invest significantly in coach accreditation and continued professional development.
we develop character and integrity, and from integrity comes leadership. “Only by knowing yourself can you become an effective leader.”
At the high performance level of coach development there is a strong leadership emphasis. The coaches participating in these programs are already experts in the technical aspects of their football game, and the focus moves to people management, mastering communication and teaching skills, and developing team culture.
While the primary purpose of the CoachDISC Profile is to further develop coaches’ self-awareness and deeper knowledge of their coaching style, it also provides a useful framework for understanding their coaching staff, players and others, to develop strong interpersonal and communication skills, develop team culture and assist in role allocation.
Legendary coach Vince Lombardi believed in the importance of strong selfawareness in both coaches and players. He purported that from self-knowledge
All five football code national bodies engage Athlete Assessments to contribute to their high performance coach programs, the top tiers of their accreditation. Each course uses the CoachDISC Profile as part of their program, for which Bo Hanson also personally facilitates a core component.
In the following pages gain an insight into each course and the person who leads the program. (See the summary table at the end for an overview of each code.)