Ryan Purcell of WFDF ran a coaching and development workshop for the WFDF on Tuesday night. The event was sponsored by Five Ultimate and there were four panelists there to help talk to all kinds of nations and start discussions on development. These were Anna Haynes (AUS), Benji Heywood (UK), Kate Barabanova (RUS), and Mario O’Brien (USA).
The panel
This was a very successful event with representatives from countries like South Africa, Cambodia, India, Uganda and many European countries among many others. The topics ranged from things about how national federations work, to how to tackle specific barriers to achieve specific goals.
Well represented audience
The attendees then had table discussions about different stories that they could share about development in their respective nations. Ryan had a hard time keeping these discussions within time limits because so many people were getting really engaged and into the conversation.
Table discussions
Volker Bernardi of WFDF then gave a presentation on development and projects that the WFDF are involved in. He was really pushing the WFDF development grants program. There is an amount of money allocated for development in the WFDF budget and they offer projects to sign up. Find more information here.
Here are a few key quotes from the panel that I thought were worth sharing:
Mario: “You have to create paid positions for ultimate positions. You cannot do these things on volunteering alone. Will talk about where this money comes from later.”
Benji: “Board of directors should not be organizing events. These are two separate skills and need different kinds of people.”
Ryan: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” This was in reference to GB allowing youth leagues to be 5 on 5 and on any surface they can so that more teams could be included.
Anna: “Never give up and annoy someone until you get what you want.”
Benji: “Long term planning is key. Just like college teams where 4th years want to win this year and are not interested in recruiting. You need people to want a long term issue for building something.”
Kate: “If you want something that you never had, you need to do something you have never done before.”
Benji: “Every time we hire someone, they generate more money than they cost. Always expand on the bottom of the pyramid. Focus mostly on making non ultimate players who are coaches rather than taking ultimate players and train them how to coach. Just teach the coaches the basics of ultimate and things will work up from that.”
Mario: “As you set your goals you need to set your own context. You have different barriers than GB or Australia, etc. Find a peer in the world that has similar challenges as you and talk to them.”
Benji: “Focus is making sure that coaches who don’t play ultimate understand spirit of the game.”
This Beach Tale is brought to you by Ravi Vasudevan of Get Horizontal. Photos are also by Ravi Vasudevan
