Mind the Gap: Our Coaching Shortage is No Accident
- Mel P
- Oct 8
- 3 min read
For too long, we’ve pushed our teens into coaching and hoped the magic dust of Coach of the Year might somehow settle on them, like the salt spray off the chase boat.
Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.
Somewhere along the way, we created a rite of passage, a conveyor belt of sorts. Where youth sailors reach a certain age, achieve a few results, and are ceremoniously handed a handheld VHF (with no training) and a group of small humans to instruct. We call them grom coaches, throw them a shirt, and hope for the best. Support? Minimal. Training? Sporadic. Confidence? Variable.
(It might be a bit more supportive than that.... you get the drift though).
Lately, I’ve been reading about the state of youth coaching, and it’s grim. Not just in sailing, but across all sports. We can analyse, theorise, and naval-gaze until the cows come home, but the truth is this: we’re not doing enough to make coaching a role worth aspiring to. We need to do better.
Sport NZ’s ‘Coaching for Impact’ programme argues the same — coaching needs structure, mentoring, and support, not hope and good intentions.
We hand young people huge responsibility; safeguarding, compliance (yawn), understanding neurodiversity, managing risk, and somehow expect them to just know how to handle it.
Then we add sailing’s special flavour: high risk, complex conditions, and a shrinking pool of coaches. The post-pandemic gap, three years of thin participation and patchy mentoring, is now hitting hard. The coaching pipeline isn’t just leaky; it’s running dry.
So… what are we doing about it?
Plenty, actually
At WBBC, our focus this season is on developing coaches. Not just nudging them from good to great, but helping them move from “what the hell am I doing?” to “I’ve got this and I’m loving it.”
We’ve introduced a dedicated Head Coach role and a voluntary Coaching Development Facilitator to build real structure around how we grow our coaching capability.
Alongside the (essential, if slightly less thrilling) compliance and safeguarding training, we’re bringing in James Hardaker, one of Diving NZ’s high-performance coaches who’s coached at both the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. He’ll be running a focused session on Coaching for Efficiency and Performance; giving our coaches (and volunteers) practical tools to lift their confidence, delivery, and enjoyment.
We’re also introducing quickfire “coach stand-ups,” where senior and even grey-haired coaches can share insights, war stories, and the occasional “what not to do” lesson that only experience can teach.
So, if you’re coaching, thinking about coaching, or just want to be part of building something better; come join us.
Coaching for Efficiency and Performance 2nd Nov (Sunday) 1-3pm
Led by James Hardaker, High-Performance Diving NZ Coach (Olympic & Commonwealth Games).
What you’ll get from this workshop
Clarity on your role as a coach
Practical tools to plan and deliver sessions that work
Simple strategies to lift athlete performance
Tips on communicating your message clearly
Ways to keep athletes at the centre of your coaching
Fresh ideas from other coaches in the room
At least one change you can take away and use straight away
What's the detail?
Open to all interested coaches and volunteers (including you parent-coach, yes I'm looking at you).
A fee of $50 helps us cover costs. Use the button to join us.
Because great coaching doesn’t just happen — it’s built, shaped, and shared.
- Fair winds, full sails, and fewer “hand me a VHF” moments,
Mel Parkin
Coaching Development Facilitator, WBBC