Most Popular this Week
Sport Leaders & Administrators
Breaking the silence on syndrome hurting female athletes
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Balance is Better in Action
“It’s about doing your best and enjoying it”: Dame Lisa Carrington’s Balance is Better story
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Featured
Coaching Scenario — Working With U7-U12 Players: What Kind of Practices Might I Include?
Knowing our athletes — and what they need and want — is the key to being a good coach. What benefits one group of individuals might not work for another, so it’s vital that we understand our environment...
Balance is Better in Action
Competitive engineering: Key changes by Harbour Basketball to make competition closer, healthier and more competitive
As Vince Minjares of Harbour Basketball explains competitive engineering is about “designing youth sport structures and competitions so that they facilitate development”. An academic definition A quick google turns up this definition by Damon Burton and colleagues in...
Balance is Better in Action
How Harbour Basketball determine success in their youth basketball programme
In youth sport, an overly narrow definition of success that is centered around winning can lead to harmful and contrary behaviours and environments that ultimately negatively impact young athletes. This narrow definition of success can have serious consequences...
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Women and Girls
Yeah! Girls cricket programme shows Balance is Better in action
A popular cricket programme is reviving the sport and providing quality experiences for young females. A programme designed, delivered and enjoyed by young women and girls has helped breathe new life into a sport that was struggling in...
Balance is Better in Action
How Harbour Basketball embedded a style of play to support better playing and coaching outcomes
Total football, tika-taka, rush defense, motion offense, counterpuncher. What do all of these terms have in common? They are styles of play across an array of sports. Many reading this will be familiar with the concept of styles...
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Balance is Better in Action
“It’s about doing your best and enjoying it”: Dame Lisa Carrington’s Balance is Better story
There’s so much more to sport than winning or losing. For young people in particular, the value of sport is wide-reaching, from the social connections and bonds that are formed through to developing important skills, both on and...
Balance is Better in Action
Working with parents and community: Insights from Harbour Basketball
When you’re thinking about parents in youth sports, you need to realise, you’re working with families, not just individual players. Sometimes it’s a sibling, and for many families, they’ve been in our community for a long time, so...
Balance is Better in Action
Divisions, even teams and trials: Stratifying structures at Harbour Basketball
How do you decide who plays with (and against) who? In youth sport, this is a core question which underpins many of the quintessential youth sport structures – trials, selections, grading, divisions, promotion, relegation, etc. One way to...
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Balance is Better in Action
Winning with a climate of development: Reflections on growth and success at Harbour Basketball
“Vince has left quite the legacy”, says long time Harbour Basketball CEO, John Hunt. Today, as a result of the youth development model Vince set up at Harbour Basketball “attrition in our programme has virtually disappeared” says John....
Balance is Better Philosophy
The Case for Delaying the IDing of Talent
Talent Identification is an important part of youth sport. But how, and when, we begin the Talent ID process can have a profound impact on the sporting experiences we give young people — and increasingly, research supports the...
Balance is Better Philosophy
Eight ways your organisation can take a participant-centred approach to delivering sport for young people
“Participant-centred” — you’ve probably heard the term thrown around. But what does it really mean? In this article, we outline tactics and actions that coaches, sports leaders, and administrators can take to implement a participant-centred approach when delivering...
Balance is Better Philosophy
To Improve Youth Sport We Need Collective Attitudinal Change
To improve the experiences we provide young athletes, we need attitudinal change within the youth sport space. But challenging long-established ideas and behaviours is rarely easy. Thus, a collaborative approach, driven by a collective of sport leaders, administrators,...
Webinars
Webinar replay: Raising Sporty Daughters
Are you a parent or whānau member of a sporty teenage girl? There are some critical things that you should know but are rarely talked about. This webinar replay is hosted by youth sport experts, Kelly Curr and...
Balance is Better Philosophy
The Need for Bold and Courageous Leadership in Youth Sport
In youth sport, sport leaders have many important roles. They’re frequently tasked with carolling and managing staff and volunteers, setting culture, developing and enforcing policy and rules, and planning and reviewing pathways, programmes, and events — and the...
Editor's Picks
A collection of articles curated by the Balance is Better team.
Coaches
How to coach with a Balance is Better Philosophy?
How can coaches bring the Balance is Better philosophy to life? In this article, Andy Rogers, National Coaching Consultant at Sport NZ,...
Coaches
Creating an Environment for Youth to Flourish
In this article, Sport Development Consultant, Charissa Barham shares some valuable ideas on creating positive sporting environments and understanding our purpose as...
Coaches
Book Club with Dr. Ralph Pim
Following on previous Book Club features (see the recommendations from Andy Rogers and Tammy Mehrtens), we hear from Dr. Ralph Pim. Dr Ralph Pim...
Coaches
No Coach is an Island: Coaching in Competition
This article is republished with permission from iCoachKids In this article, Simon Toole discusses coaching feedback and intervention from the sideline. The...
Coaches
The CPR Method: How to Support Players When They Make a Mistake*
* Important clarification: we are not talking about poor skill execution, but more about poor game-decisions. In this article, Dr Sergio Lara-Bercial...
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Coaches
How to be a great secondary school sport coach?: Defining success, mistakes verses outcomes, and the importance of self-awareness
In this Q&A, we hear from Dan Stamp, mental skills coach and Unitec lecturer, about his observations of New Zealand secondary school coaches. Dan,...
Parents
What makes an expert sports parent?
In 2015, Chris Harwood and Camilla Knight, published an academic paper titled, Parenting in youth sport – a positioning paper on parenting expertise. In this paper...
Parents
A parent guide to child growth and development in sport
In this guide we discuss the key considerations relating to children’s growth and development that may influence their sport experience. This guide...
Balance is Better in Action
Fun without pressure – Ex-New Zealand footballer Wendi Henderson talks youth sport
Former New Zealand footballer Wendi Henderson wants young people to enjoy their sports without any pressure, just as she did in her youth. ...
Webinars
Webinar replay: Game Management
Supporting Athlete Learning Through Play This webinar replay features top youth coaches Charissa Barham and Grant Porter. Co-founder of Player Development Project & experienced football coach, Dave Wright hosts Charissa and Grant for a comprehensive discussion on how...
Sport Leaders & Administrators
Promoting a Culture of Fairness in Your Youth Sport Organisation
All New Zealanders have the right to play sport in fair and inclusive environments. So how can we design youth sport programmes in which fairness and inclusivity are embedded — and then deliver those programmes in a way...
Webinars
Webinar replay: Athlete, Parent & Coach
Building Better Relationships in Youth Sport In this webinar, our host, Dave Wright is joined by two world class youth sport experts – Dr. Craig Harrison and Reed Maltbie. Dave, Craig and Reed dive into a wide ranging...
Sport Leaders & Administrators
Meeting the Needs Of All Your Participants: Six Ways to Understand Them Better
Young people are THE key stakeholders in youth sports, and gathering their input and feedback is crucial for the success of any programme. Additionally, some young people experience more barriers than others when it comes to being able...
Webinars
Webinar replay: Principles of training design
Create quality trainings for athlete learning, development and performance In this webinar replay, we hear from youth sport experts, Dave Wright and Dan Cooke, on effective session design in team sports or invasion games. Dave and Dan share...
Parents
Reframing physical activity for and with young women
We need to continue to ask ourselves if the rationale of the action or initiative has been informed by young women. If yes, ka rawe! Awesome! If not, then why are we doing it? We might need to...