Men’s National Contact Team
Auckland, 2020
Information on the potential campaign
Coach Selection and Player Expression of Interest

NZAFF is currently assessing an opportunity for a Men’s National Contact team to play a visiting Australian State Team from Victoria in Auckland, around March 2020. The Victoria State team are looking to travel to play as part of their build up for the Australian National Championships.
 
Whilst this opportunity is still being assessed, our initial step is to ask for expressions of interest from players and Coaches around being involved in a National Men’s team to play this game. It is likely trials and selections will happen during the upcoming season, with a squad being selected in early 2020.
 
This campaign will be primarily self-funded and even thought costs will be minimised due to hosting, there will still be some costs around equipment, training camps etc so players should be aware of this.
 
The information below is for the initial phase of the campaign and covers the coach selection process and the expression of interest for players who want to be considered for selection into a training squad.
 
Please note that the final approval of the NZAFF Board is required for the campaign to proceed.  The process for approval is in the National Teams Process document (here).  This document should be read by both groups so that everyone understands the process and the requirements in order to be considered and the initial requirements that lead to final approval of the campaign by the NZAFF Board.
 
Players
The time frame for the expression of interest will be:
Registrations open today: 29 July 2019.
Registrations close on Sunday 18th August 2019.
 
If the Campaign is confirmed the Campaign trials and training dates will be agreed with the successful Head Coach and will be advised to players who have registered as soon as those dates are finalised.
 
The registration of interest for players can be found here.
 
Coach
The appointment of the Head Coach will only be made if there is enough interest in the campaign from the players, the arrangements with the Victorian Team are confirmed and the Board approves the campaign details.
 
The time frame will be:
Applications open today: 29 July 2019
Applications close on Sunday 18th August 2019.
 
Applicants should make sure that they have made time to be available for an interview (if required) either by skype or dial-in voice conference.
 
Applications will be considered by a panel made up of members of the NZAFF Board with assistance from senior players and/or independent coaches who are not involved in the process.
 
The Selection Panel will determine which applicants will get an invitation to an interview.
 
A template that can be used for the application can be found with the Position Vacancy document.  We encourage applicants to use this template in order to make it easy for the Panel to evaluate applications.  Applicants can add an additional document on the registration form if they wish.  All documents should be loaded into the application form not emailed.
 
Preference will be given to Coaches living in New Zealand.
 
Assistant Coach and Manager Positions will be appointed at a later date after the Board has approved the campaign.
 
A Position Vacant document is available (here) with an Application Template section.
​The application form for Head Coaches can be found here.
 
 If you have any questions please contact:
Russell McConnochie
gm@nzaff.co.nz

Unfortunately there were too few registrations for the Conference by the cut-off date to warrant holding the event so we have reluctantly decided to cancel the event.
 
NZAFF remain committed to development and will be looking at delivering alternatives to the Conference to continue the development of both the coaches and the officials.
 
We will be announcing alternative activities when we have finalised arrangements.

Hopefully more people will be available to take part in these future opportunities.
 

To our members, Regions and Clubs,

Whilst its been the offseason for our sport around the country, the work has continued at the NZAFF level as we try to maintain momentum and drive things forward to support the upcoming season and beyond.

Whilst rugby and league tends to take the focus during these winter months, there has still been some exciting things happening for American Football in NZ. We were awarded a $90,000 grant for ENDZONE, had a visit from the Polynesian Football Hall Of Fame ex NFL players, and launched our campaign to send a National Men’s Team to the 2020 Flag Football World Championships in Denmark to name a few.

Below I have given some more detail on these initiatives as well as what else we have been working on over the past couple of months.

DOWNUNDERBOWL & FUND RAISING PLATFORM PILOT
It was great to see an U19 team head over to participate in the annual Down Under Bowl event in Australia last week to build on what they accomplished last year with the first ever full team attending from New Zealand.

As an almost solely self-funded initiative, the fact 30+ players and a Coaching staff can get over for the weeks activities is a huge testament to the commitment of the coaches, managers, players and their families. Its a great opportunity for these young athletes to test themselves against international players, as well as continue to refine their craft through training during the winter months and accessing the camps and coaching in Australia.

As NZAFF, we were pleased to be able to support the Down Under Bowl team with a $2,050 grant towards flight costs as well as launching a trial of our online shop "fundraiser" concept. The proceeds from the merchandise sold raised an additional $450 which was passed onto the travelling Down Under Bowl team.

Our aim is to be able to extend this online shop fundraising platform out to other NZAFF affiliated Clubs and Regions to use for their own fundraising, and we can support the website with operational support around accessing the gear, processing orders etc 

Please get in touch with Russell (gm@nzaff.co.nz) if you are interested in using this platform but bear in mind whilst any costs to access will be keep to an absolute minimum (likely only print set-up costs) there will be an expectation that participating Clubs / Regions are supporting wider NZAFF initiatives like our Coach and Officials development programs.

ENDZONE UPDATE
As you all know already the NZAFF Board believe that Flag Football (especially at a Junior level) is critical to growing interest and numbers in our game, so we have continued to drive our ENDZONE program forward even though it has been somewhat challenging during winter.

We had a huge win recently where we were awarded a $93,000 grant from Aktive Auckland to deliver ENDZONE Flag Football into Primary and Intermediate schools in Auckland, and this is probably the largest grant the sport has ever received outside of our Racing Board annual grant.

Grant summary:

• $93,000 funding approved
• Targeting delivery across 60 schools in Auckland, with an aim to focus on suburbs near where we have NZAFF Clubs to try and establish connections.
• Targeting 7 sessions per child engaged, per school.

A large supporting reason for us getting this grant was the pilot activity we have been running to date through our partnerships with Kelly Sports as this has helped us prove the concept. Over the past 3 school terms we have:

• Secured $19,000 grant funding to support our pilots
• Delivered ENDZONE pilots in 11 schools across Hibiscus Coast, East Auckland, Franklin and Kapiti Coast (we didn't have a lot of control over where pilots happened)
• Exposed over 1,500 young kids to American Football.

Our current focus now we have started to get some traction, is to start trying to more closely align this activity with our existing clubs and communities. Whilst at primary school age there is some gap before kids may be ready for contact football, we believe it is critical to have our Clubs extending their reach into flag football and getting kids young so we will be reaching out to get feedback on how we can do this over the coming months.

I would also like to specifically call our Russell our GM for all his hard work on the fundraising front here, as grant funding is becoming harder and harder to secure so to get $100,000+ to drive the longterm health of our sport is a great result.

​POLYNESIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME VISIT
As part of their recent visit to New Zealand we connected with the Polynesian Hall Of Fame team based in Hawaii, and whilst we only had 2 weeks notice of their visit to NZ we tried our best to make the most of their time here.

Being in the middle of rugby / league season it was hard to secure a venue at such late notice, but we arranged for the PFHOF Coaches to attend a Down Under Bowl U19 team training so this was an awesome experience for the young athletes to get coached and inspired by ex NFL players.

We also arranged a Coaching Q&A session which had a good attendance, and Russell and I met separately with the full PFHOF team to discus there objectives and aspirations and how these might align with NZAFF's.

The PFHOF have some lofty goals to see the likes of US Div 1 College Coaches down in New Zealand assessing talent, and helping develop our players and coaches so we are currently reviewing how we might work closer with them in the future.

NATIONAL FLAG TEAM & FLAG TOURNAMENTS
The New Zealand Makos Mens Flag Football National team campaign is now officially underway with a great coaching/ management team appointed and regional trials starting in mid-August. 

There is still a lot of work to be done to mount a successful campaign, including the required "pay to play" funding being committed by the players, but after how well our Mens Flag team performed in the 2016 World Championships in the Bahamas we are looking forward to seeing how we measure up again in Denmark in 2020.

For NZAFF, this campaign's benefits extend well beyond the final 12 or so people who will travel to the World Championships, and we see it as a fantastic way to engage athletes who play Flag Football around the country. We expect over 75 athletes to attend our camps around the Country which is an awesome opportunity for players to up-skill, connect with each other, and share knowledge to grow the sport and hopefully build a strong community around Flag Football.

Off the back of our successful National Invitational Tournament in Wellington there has subsequently been a 5 team single day tournament held in Hamilton and there are additional Tournaments in the planning in both Auckland and Hawkes Bay so we are really excited to see the expansion of these sorts of events.

And if you are interested in hosting a tournament, or sending a team to one, please ensure you let Russell know (gm@nzaff.co.nz).

COACH DEVELOPMENT
Whilst we do have some Coaches progressing through our Coach Accreditation Program, the uptake has been lower than we anticipated and to be completely honest has disappointed me.

The NZAFF board strongly believe it should be compulsory for EVERY American Football Coach in New Zealand to at least complete the online components of our Level 1 qualification. The course modules should only take 6-8 hours and can be broken down into small chunks and done over time, but the key elements covered around safe contact, concussion, dehydration, and other player safety elements are critical, not optional.

At the end of the day, with our structure only the Regions can really enforce this but we strongly encourage everyone involved in Coaching to please commit to doing whats right and upskilling on the basics of safe American Football through our CDP.  Just think how you would feel if you had a young player succumb to a serious injury (or worse) and you hadnt done all you could to prepare for the situation.

On a related note, we have just announced our first Coaches and Officials Conference to be held in Auckland on August 3rd and 4th so we hope this gets strong support. We are looking to bring over Paul Manera (Coaching) and Miles Newman (Officiating) from Australia who are highly regarded as leaders in their fields in Australasia, and if you have completed the online elements of the previously mentioned Level 1 CDP the cost is $0 to attend. 

The Board appreciate attending from other regions adds significant cost, but we truly believe it will be worth it and in the future may look to shift the Conference location around. For year 1 it largely comes down to a practical decision based on where the majority of American Football Coaches currently are based.
When we put out our surveys we are consistently told Coach Development is critical, and we are trying to do our part but you guys need to do yours and get there. So save the date and try and make it happen. 


​That’s all for me this month, but as always feel free to drop me a line if you have anything on your mind you would like to share.

Cheers,

Todd Wackrow
NZAFF Chairman

NZAFF are pelased to announce that the inaugural Coaches & Officials conference will be held on the 3rd & 4th of August.
 
The venue will be:           Pulman Lodge,
                                           Bruce Pulman Park
                                           Te Aparangi Rd,               
                                           Takanini
 
The primary presenters will be Paul Manera, for coaching, and Miles Newman, for Officials.
 
The Conference is being held to provide a forum to share good coaching ideas and methods and to help Officials to develop their skills and will be valuable to both sets of members as we prepare for the coming season.
 
The program will include the following:

• Tea and coffee all day
• Morning Tea each day
• Lunch on Saturday
• Afternoon tea on Saturday
• 16 Presentations/sessions/workshops
  • At least 6 each for the Coaches and Officials
  • 2 or 3 shared sessions.

Times:

• Arrive at 9:30 for a 10:00am start both days.
• Saturday will finish approximately 6:00pm
• Sunday will finish approximately 1:30pm.

 
The cost of attending:

• Free to those Coaches and Officials that have completed their on-line Coach and Officials Development to level 1.
• For those coaches and Officials that have not completed level 1 the cost is $50.

If you are not sure of your qualifications contact Russell – gm@nzaff.co.nz
 
REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE HERE.
 
COACHING TOPICS
As this is the first we have held we want to make sure that we are offering topics that are of interest to our members.
For that reason we are asking for feedback on a range of topics in coaching.
To get the best information back we want members to rank the following topics on the feedback form.

The coaching topic feedback is part of the registration form and further details can be found here.
We suggest coaches read the details document prior to filling the registration form so that they have sufficient information to be able to rank the topics
 
These are headings for the Coaching topics we are considering and require feedback on:

1. Planning
2. Leadership
3. Coaching Ethics
4. Risk Management for Coaches
5. Positional Technique
6. Football Systems - Offensive X's and O's
7. Football Systems - Defensive X's and O's
8. Football Communication
9. Scouting Opponents
10. Coaching Accreditation

  
OFFICIALS SESSIONS
The Officiating sessions may include the following:

1. Philosophy of the Rules Enforcement - MOFO Section 3.
2. Our Biggest Challenge: Concussion and Head Safety - the rules we must enforce.
3. Mechanics Crew of 5.
4. So You Want To be a Referee? Introduction for new Referees.
5. Referee and Umpire the key combo.
6. Working the Wings.
7. IFAF Rules Changes 2019 also Differences between IFAF and NCAA.
8. Pass Interference - Offensive and Defensive.
9. Holding and Blocking.

 
 
REGISTER FOR THE CONFERENCE HERE.
 
If you have any questions please contact Russell – gm@nzaff.co.nz