If the clubs want to grow (and they certainly do!), qualified coaches are essential. It is equally clear to all clubs that coaches are, unfortunately, not easy to come by. This makes it all the more important to develop interested young players and introduce them to the exciting role of junior coach. Together with the Canton of Zurich and J&S, Swiss Hockey has been successfully running the Coach 1418 course for years.

This year’s Coach 1418 course, led by the two J&S experts Nadja Nold and Max Simmen, was a resounding success. We were delighted that the course was fully booked. Twenty-two young people from six clubs (GCZ, RS, LSC, Höfe, RWW, BeHC) will now lead junior training sessions at their clubs, supported by experienced mentors (J+S leaders).

The Coach1418 training programme focuses on introducing participants to leadership roles and taking on shared responsibility within the club. This is developed with the young people both across different sports and within specific sports. Coaches who have completed the Coach1418 training can also be paid for their work, generating income for their club.

Having successfully completed the course, the girls and boys can now teach field hockey in the children’s sections of their clubs (U6, U8, U10). To help them continuously develop their experience and improve their coaching skills, Swiss Hockey has launched the ‘Boost My Coaching’ programme. At the BMC sessions, led by the national coaches, the junior coaches learn from professional coaches how to make their training sessions more effective – not just in theory, but through practical examples that they can put into practice straight away. For further information, see the article ‘Boost My Coaching’.

To also assist clubs in French-speaking Switzerland with the development of junior coaches, Swiss Hockey, in collaboration with the Canton of Vaud and the City of Lausanne, is also working to establish a Coach1418 course that includes field hockey as part of the programme. The aim is to be able to offer such a course by 2027.