Five Tahitian national team coaches recently travelled to Auckland as part of the OFC Placement Programme to gain exposure to new coaching strategies.
During their four-day stay in New Zealand, the coaches attended and spoke to staff at Auckland FC and New Zealand Breakers training sessions, and had the opportunity to exchange and learn new ideas.
“It’s been an enriching experience, and we’ve learned a lot about what high-level football looks like here in the Pacific,” said Tahiti women’s national team coach Xavier Samin. “We’re discovering how a well-structured club runs, and how to run high-intensity training sessions, which is currently what we’re missing in Tahiti. We know what to work on and improve, and we can take these lessons back to our clubs and national teams.”
The five coaches had the chance to observe two Auckland FC training sessions at North Harbour Stadium, gaining insight into how a professional football club operates.
“We’ve had two days to observe and meet with the staff, who have explained the philosophy of the club and how Auckland FC was built,” said Tahiti U-16 men’s national team coach, Sebastien Laben. “What I will remember the most is the importance of establishing a philosophy that creates a unique identity for every high-achieving sports team.”
All coaches also attended a session with the New Zealand Breakers, who compete in the National Basketball League (NBL), the premier professional basketball league for Australia and New Zealand. “The experience with the Breakers was an amazing one because it was completely different and allowed us to compare differences in training sessions between football and basketball,” said Tahiti U-16 women’s national team coach Delphine Soret.
Soret, and her assistant coach Gwendoline Fournier, are both apart of the Tahiti U-16 women’s national team coaching set-up. “We’ve learnt a lot, particularly regarding the athletic aspect of player preparation in relation to injury prevention,” said Soret.
“We have realised that we are still quite far behind and we have a lot to learn from professional clubs to progress,” said Fournier. “We need to focus a lot more on strength training sessions and the health of our players in Tahiti.”
All five coaches are hopeful that the concepts they’ve been introduced to, can help drive change for coaching practices and strategies in Tahiti. During the week, they also engaged in discussion with New Zealand Football about the way that the coaches and the Fédération Tahitienne de Football work with its clubs and help develop players.
“It’s been an incredible experience to come here, and we can take these things back to Tahiti and apply them to help us progress,” says Tahiti U-19 women’s national team assistant coach Avearii Bennett. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but with the help of this experience we aim to help Tahitian football grow.”
