The governing board of New Zealand American Football (NZAFF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Bring It On Sports to introduce and implement the New Zealand coach development and accreditation programme. Paul Manera, a director of Bring It On Sports, will be directly responsible for the delivery of the initiative.
Paul has a long association with coaching and training with Gridiron Australia. He currently heads
the IFAF Oceania Technical Committee which is responsible for coaching development across the Oceania region and he was instrumental in establishing the Australian Gridiron Coaches Association (AGCA) in 1994, where he served as President until 2007.
As President of AGCA, Paul was fundamental in establishing Australia’s coach accreditation programme in 2000. Just three years later, the programme was formally recognised by the Australian Sports Commission and accepted into their National Coaching Accreditation Scheme.
As NZAFF has communicated previously, its present board’s focus has been on the introduction of a development and accreditation programme for New Zealand coaches that will deliver a consistent level of coach development across the country in the most practical and cost efficient manner.
“On reviewing applications for the Coach Development Officer’s role we focused on applicants with proven ability to ‘coach the coaches’ not just be a successful coach themselves, and Paul and Bring It On Sports was extremely strong in this area,” said NZAFF Chair Todd Wackrow.
Through Paul’s appointment, NZAFF will be able to take advantage of current programmes that are accessed online, for self-paced learning. These include those Paul has developed, components of US Football courses (including the HeadsUp programme) and New Zealand-specific courses developed by Sport NZ and other national sporting organisations.
The courses will be combined with Paul’s existing processes of managing one-to-one online assessments via submitted video and conference calls, circumventing the challenges of logistics and cost. Being online and self-paced removes the requirement of physically attending coach clinics and courses at defined times and venues, which has always proved difficult in New Zealand.
This combination means NZAFF can meet its goal of delivering a practical and cost-effective coach development programme for the 2018-2019 pre-season that is available to everyone throughout the country.
“We do still intend to have face-to-face conferences and clinics but believe it’s important our base Coach Development Programme can be implemented without specifically relying on them,” said Wackrow.
“The ‘online’ nature of this course, with one-to-one assessments delivered virtually, also meant the Board didn’t see Paul’s Australian base as an issue,” he added.
One of the main focuses of the initial phase of the coaching and development programme under Paul Manera will be to upskill local coaches to the level where they can solely direct the management and ongoing development of the programme.
Coach development was identified as the biggest need in our recent national survey.
“We had several applicants for the advertised role who gave up their time to apply, and in some cases be interviewed, and we thank them for their time. Through this process it was clear we have some great coaches in this country committed to the development of our sport, so we look forward to working with them as we initiate this programme,” said Wackrow.
Coaches will be able to register their interest or participation by the end of June 2018.
The NZAFF Board and Paul Manera are eagerly looking forward to rolling out this long-awaited and exciting new phase of American Football to the many existing and aspiring coaches participating in our sport in New Zealand.
Any interested current or aspiring Coaches can register here to stay informed as the program is developed.
For further information please contact:
Todd Wackrow, Chair
NEW ZEALAND AMERICAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
chairperson@nzaff.co.nz
Telephone: 022 106 4868
Russell McConnochie, General Manager
NEW ZEALAND AMERICAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
gm@nzaff.co.nz
Telephone: 021 959 071
DETAILS OF PAUL MANERA’S FOOTBALL HISTORY AND QUALIFICATIONS are as follows:
Playing Career:
Coaching Career:
Paul has a long association with coaching and training with Gridiron Australia. He currently heads
the IFAF Oceania Technical Committee which is responsible for coaching development across the Oceania region and he was instrumental in establishing the Australian Gridiron Coaches Association (AGCA) in 1994, where he served as President until 2007.
As President of AGCA, Paul was fundamental in establishing Australia’s coach accreditation programme in 2000. Just three years later, the programme was formally recognised by the Australian Sports Commission and accepted into their National Coaching Accreditation Scheme.
As NZAFF has communicated previously, its present board’s focus has been on the introduction of a development and accreditation programme for New Zealand coaches that will deliver a consistent level of coach development across the country in the most practical and cost efficient manner.
“On reviewing applications for the Coach Development Officer’s role we focused on applicants with proven ability to ‘coach the coaches’ not just be a successful coach themselves, and Paul and Bring It On Sports was extremely strong in this area,” said NZAFF Chair Todd Wackrow.
Through Paul’s appointment, NZAFF will be able to take advantage of current programmes that are accessed online, for self-paced learning. These include those Paul has developed, components of US Football courses (including the HeadsUp programme) and New Zealand-specific courses developed by Sport NZ and other national sporting organisations.
The courses will be combined with Paul’s existing processes of managing one-to-one online assessments via submitted video and conference calls, circumventing the challenges of logistics and cost. Being online and self-paced removes the requirement of physically attending coach clinics and courses at defined times and venues, which has always proved difficult in New Zealand.
This combination means NZAFF can meet its goal of delivering a practical and cost-effective coach development programme for the 2018-2019 pre-season that is available to everyone throughout the country.
“We do still intend to have face-to-face conferences and clinics but believe it’s important our base Coach Development Programme can be implemented without specifically relying on them,” said Wackrow.
“The ‘online’ nature of this course, with one-to-one assessments delivered virtually, also meant the Board didn’t see Paul’s Australian base as an issue,” he added.
One of the main focuses of the initial phase of the coaching and development programme under Paul Manera will be to upskill local coaches to the level where they can solely direct the management and ongoing development of the programme.
Coach development was identified as the biggest need in our recent national survey.
“We had several applicants for the advertised role who gave up their time to apply, and in some cases be interviewed, and we thank them for their time. Through this process it was clear we have some great coaches in this country committed to the development of our sport, so we look forward to working with them as we initiate this programme,” said Wackrow.
Coaches will be able to register their interest or participation by the end of June 2018.
The NZAFF Board and Paul Manera are eagerly looking forward to rolling out this long-awaited and exciting new phase of American Football to the many existing and aspiring coaches participating in our sport in New Zealand.
Any interested current or aspiring Coaches can register here to stay informed as the program is developed.
For further information please contact:
Todd Wackrow, Chair
NEW ZEALAND AMERICAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
chairperson@nzaff.co.nz
Telephone: 022 106 4868
Russell McConnochie, General Manager
NEW ZEALAND AMERICAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION
gm@nzaff.co.nz
Telephone: 021 959 071
DETAILS OF PAUL MANERA’S FOOTBALL HISTORY AND QUALIFICATIONS are as follows:
Playing Career:
- 1984 played for the Fairfield Argonauts as a Tight End and Inside Linebacker.
- 1987 moved to the Bondi Raiders Gridiron Club where he played on the
Defensive Line. - 1987 enrolled into Itawamba Community College in Fulton, Mississippi.
- 1988 awarded a scholarship at Itawamba Community College. Awarded Honorable Mention for All-State Mississippi Junior College.
- University of Hawaii as Offensive Tackle. He was a three-year letter-man and in his senior year was selected as an Academic All Western Athletic Conference Player.
Coaching Career:
- 1992 Student Assistant Coach at the University of Hawaii.
- 1999 Offensive Line Coach for the Australian Cyclones National Gridiron Team, which competed at the first-ever World Cup of American Football in Palermo, Sicily. Coached Offensive Line Coach professionally for the Obic Seagulls in Jappan competing in the X League.
- 2000 Head Coach of the NSW Wolfpack State Team. While he was head coach, the Wolfpack were runners up at the Gridiron Australia National Championships in 2001, and won the championship in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
- 2001 Head Coach of the Australian Outback National Gridiron Team.
- 2003 inducted into the Gridiron NSW Hall of Fame for his achievements as a coach.
- 2005 Head Coach of the Australian national team, which competed in the world games against Germany and France.
- 2007 Head Coach of the Australian national team, which played against South Korea in a World Cup qualification game.
- 2006–2012 served on the Technical Committee for the International Federation for American Football (IFAF), providing advice and assistance with developmental programmes for coaches and players.
- 2011 Offensive Co-ordinator for the IFAF Under-19 World Championship team, which narrowly lost to the USA in the International Bowl 21–14.
- 2012 Offensive Line Coach for the World Under-19 team, which beat the USA 35–29 in an historic victory.
- Coached for the UNSW Raiders as well as serving as Offensive Co-ordinator for the Australian Outback National Gridiron Team, which competed in Canton, Ohio, at the 2015 World Cup of American Football.
RSS Feed