It doesn’t matter what sport you’re involved in or at what level you coach, this is a chance to learn from one of the best in the business and help your athletes reach the next level and pick up a few tricks.

The Coach Development Day will be held Saturday (10th November) at the West Tamworth League Club from 8:30am to 5:30pm.

The Coaching Clinic will be run by Bill Nelson, a man with an extensive history across a wide array of sports. Bill has over 30 years’ experience as an elite international coach spending time with the Australian Swim team during the Thorpe/Perkins era.

He was an adviser to the Australian Road Cycling Team from 1992-94, consultant to the premiership winning South East Melbourne Magic in the National Basketball League from 1994-97, was part of the Sydney Kings coaching team as they won the NBL crown in 2003, 04, 05 as well as grand final appearances in 2006 and 2008. He’s also been involved with the Boomers as well as NRL, AFL and Rugby Union clubs.

Bill will be presenting on three main aspects to coaching. The first one is looking at oneself as a coach, looking at what mistakes may be made before even meeting the athlete, what to focus on and how to improve, the second session will be more specifically looking at the athlete, their habits, how to get them to buy into what you’re teaching them and how to work with them, not against them.

The final session will be on developing a plan for your athlete, looking at where they’ve come from and where they want to go, the pros and cons of individual sport compared to team sports. The day will end with an open forum for any of the coaches that have more questions.

Nelson says the day will be flexible depending on what the coaches need. “It's not so much about the topics of the sessions, but more about deciding the information that could be presented and discussed, which then in turn will determine the topics.”

NIAS CEO James Cooper says he’s glad they’ve been able to open the coaching development to the wider public.

“We understand that the more our local coaches improve, the better our athletes will be that come through our ranks in future years. We’d like to see as many coaches from as many different sports attend the day and build on their experiences,” Cooper said.

“We currently have programs in all the sports that Bill has a history in and we would encourage coaches from all sports to join us, it’s a day where coaches get to network across sports and often that unique opportunity is priceless.”

“To be able to bring a coach of Bill’s calibre to the region is really exciting for us, he’s got a wealth of experience and knowledge and we love the opportunity to share that with everyone from across the Northern Inland.”

The day is free of charge but NIAS ask that you notify them if you’re interested in attending so they can organise the day for the numbers.

Sport: I’m a member of the Wests Hockey Program.

What town or city are you from? I am from Armidale.

How long have you been involved with NIAS? I have played hockey for over 8-years, but this is my first year as a part of the NIAS Wests Hockey program.

Age  I’m 16.

Position I’m a defender/defensive midfielder

Highest Achievement I have competed at multiple state championships and I’ve won a few premierships at club level.

Where do you see the NIAS program taking you? My next step is to represent NSW at the National Championships.

Hero My favourite athlete is Mark Knowles, former Kookaburra’s captain. He is an Olympic gold medallist. He retired earlier this year.