The Pathway Coaches Webinars and Workshops are a series of professional development opportunities for Coaches of Pre-Elite Athletes. The webinars and workshops are conducted by the Office of Sport and feature topics of interest to coaches who are coaching athletes in their sport’s pathway programs at levels below the High Performance level. These webinars and workshops can only be accessed via an invitation from an State Sporting Organisation, Regional Academy of Sport or State Sporting High School. Where it is possible to record the session these webinars and workshops will be available on this page of the Office of Sport website for anyone to view for a limited time after the event.
Pathway Coaches Webinar – Monday October 27, 2025
Presenters:
Simon Woinarski – OoS Coaching and Officiating Project Officer
Dr Juanita Weissenteiner – OoS Principal Advisor Talent Pathways
Kathy Fahim – Australian Institute of Sport
Topic: Online Resources for Coaches of Pathway Athletes
It can be difficult to keep up with the availability of resources and courses for coaches on the internet because websites are constantly updating and new content is constantly being added. Additionally, it can be difficult to identify content that is well researched and regarded as best practice (in both delivery and content).
This webinar will showcase the range of free resources and courses that are available for coaches on the following websites
All of these resources and courses benefit from evidence-based development and are considered to meet best practice principles.
View more webinars in the series
Presenters
Simon Woinarski
Dr. Juanita Weissensteiner
Shaun Abbot (University of Sydney)
Topic: Coaching Athletes During Maturation – Implications and Practical Case Studies
This webinar is ideal for coaches of athletes in Talented Athlete Pathway Programs who are still growing and yet to attain full adult stature.
Understanding a young athlete’s biological maturity will:
- Improve a coach’s understanding of changes in an athlete’s physical capacity and capability whilst they are growing.
- Assist a coach in making better decisions about the athlete’s training and competition programs.
- Better inform decisions around talent identification.
The webinar has used practical case studies to explain to coaches how the Maturation Status Calculator can be used to improve training program design for young athletes.
This webinar considers how a coaches should approach discussions about nutrition with their athletes. You don’t need to be a dietitian or know all the technical aspects of nutrition to support athletes in Talented Athlete Pathway Programs. The webinar addresses the appropriate language for discussions around nutritional habits to support performance, and the signs and signals that diet may need some intervention.
The webinar included case studies and time for questions from participants to explore specific real-life examples or challenges you may have experienced when working as coach in Talented Athlete Pathway Programs
Presenter:
Sally Walker – Sally Walker is an Advanced Sports Dietitian with over 17 years’ experience in high performance sport, supporting a wide range of athletes from those talent athlete pathway programs through to Olympic medalists and World Record holders. She was the Australian dietitian for the Tokyo Olympic team, and she is the current President of Sports Dietitians Australia.
Presenter: Clare Minihan – Clare is an Associate Professor at Griffith University, and she is the Research Lead for the Female Performance & Health Initiative of AIS
This webinar provides an overview of health issues pertinent to female athletes, including a presentation on health-related factors uniquely affecting them or where they are disproportionately impacted.
It delves into the menstrual cycle profiles of Australian athletes, examining their perceptions of its effects on their health and performance. The session also includes a detailed discussion on menstrual cycle basics, distinguishing between what is considered normal and abnormal, as well as the implications of using hormonal contraceptives.
Furthermore, it explores research findings on the relationship between menstrual cycles and athletic performance. The webinar offers practical advice for coaches on how they can support athletes, introducing "tools of the trade." Lastly, it investigates emerging areas of interest, such as phase-based training, questioning its validity and application in sports training.
Presenter: Shaun Abbott and Stephen Cobley
This webinar explains how to estimate an athlete's maturational status using the new Maturity Status Calculator which is on the Office of Sport website.
Understanding a young athlete’s biological maturity will:
- Improve a coach’s understanding of an athlete’s physical capacity and capability
- Assist the coach in making better decisions about the athlete’s training and competition programs
- Better inform decisions around talent identification.
Coaches in Talented Athlete Pathway Programs are strongly encouraged to assess growth and maturation regularly as part of athlete tracking and evaluation.
Access the Status Maturation Calculator
This webinar is a follow on from the Future Champions Masterclass webinar that explored practical ways to facilitate an athlete’s knowledge and application, including key psychological skills and strategies to support them in and out of sport . The aim of this follow-up webinar is to tailor this information to the needs of coaches and assist them to think about these principles when coaching in talented athlete pathway programs for their sports.
Presenter: Fiona McCarthy
Fiona McCarthy is a registered psychologist, specialising in sport psychology. She owns and operates Mind and Body Balance. Fiona is the Hunter Academy of Sport, Sport Psychology Consultant and a New South Wales Institute of Sport, Sport Psychology Service Provider. She has assisted many local, state and national, athletes, parents and coaches in the areas of confidence, concentration, handling pressure, motivation, goal setting, time management, performance preparation and general well-being.
This webinar will expand on one aspect of the previous Pathway Coaches Webinar – Self-Reflection. The aim of the webinar will be to de-mystify and simplify the process of using self-reflection as a tool to improve your own coaching. You will be shown an example of “Success Profile” for coaches operating in the pathway space and it will be explained how such profiles can be used to direct your self-reflective attention to the most relevant aspects of your coaching.
Several other simple tools and strategies will be explored, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask any questions you have about the process of self-reflection.
Presenter: Simon Woinarski, Coaching and Officiating Program Coordinator, Office of Sport.
Adapted from the original FTEM Framework (Gulbin, Croser, Morley & Weissensteiner, 2013), the FTEM NSW Participant and Athlete Framework developed by the NSW Office of Sport, provides a whole of sport and practical approach for facilitating athlete development, within NSW, Australia and internationally.
Within this presentation, Dr Juanita Weissensteiner will unpack and apply the best practice principles of FTEM NSW and demonstrate how it can support your coaching practice and development.
Presenter: Dr Juanita Weissensteiner
Dr Juanita Weissensteiner is the Principal Advisor of Talent Pathways for the NSW Office of Sport. Prior to this appointment, Juanita was the National Manager of the Athlete Pathways and Development section at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS).
A physiotherapist by background, Juanita is an original co-author of the FTEM (Foundation, Talent, Elite and Mastery) Athlete Development framework utilised by the AIS to inform the review, refinement and support of the entire athlete pathway from a foundational to a podium level.
Utilising an evidence-based, practical and holistic approach, Juanita provides advice across the NSW and Australian sport sectors and has consulted internationally. Juanita was a co-contributor to 2015 published International Olympic Committee’s consensus statement on Youth Athlete Development and is an invited author – her most recent publication to be featured within an upcoming International handbook on Athlete Development.
Topic: Common Coaching Issues - Derek debunks 10 common myths associated with coaching in Pathway Programs
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia and high performance to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development. Rather than focusing on WHAT they coach, he works with coaches at the professional, National, State, and regional level to cut through the jargon and gimmicks and make small changes to HOW they coach that have a big impact.
Pathway Coaches Webinar – September 28 2022
Topic: Q & A with Derek Panchuk & Margo Wiltens
Derek’s expertise is in the field of skill acquisition, and he has considerable experience working with coaches to improve their coaching by applying principles of skill acquisition to training.
Margo is a current High-Performance Coach with Volleyball Australia who has a wealth of practical experience as both an elite athlete and coaching in high performance programs.
Derek and Margo answer the participants questions about coaching Pathway Athletes.
Presenter - Dr Derek Panchuk & Margo Wiltens
Whether you work with your athletes every day or see them once a week, coming up with effective plans for short and long-term development is important for helping your athletes develop and grow. But knowing how to get the most out of your valuable training time isn’t easy. In this webinar, join National beach volleyball coach Margo Wiltens and skill acquisition specialist Dr Derek Panchuk as they discuss a range of topics related to planning, including: the building blocks of a good plan, effective prioritisation, tracking and monitoring progress, and balancing individual and team needs.
Presenters: Dr Derek Panchuk & Margo Wiltens
Telling athletes their every move might seem like an easy way to get results but, the benefits are short-lived, and this style of coaching can actually do more harm than good. Relationships between athletes and coaches are changing and growing and, in this webinar, we’ll explore, the benefits of creating a cooperative partnership between the two. We’ll discuss what cooperation looks like and you can create better relationships with your athletes from the perspective of a high-performance coach (Margo Wiltens) and a skill learning and coaching specialist (Derek Panchuk)
From the local premiership to the Olympic Games, performing effectively under pressure is one of the biggest challenges athletes in any sport face. While the ability to deal with emotions and maintain performance in the face of competitive pressure is often considered a psychological issue, science is starting to show us that it is also a learning issue. In this webinar, we’ll explore the relationship between learning and performing under pressure, why some of the coaching methods we use can cause more harm than good, and how coaches can design training activities that help athletes prepare for the pressure of game day.
Presenter: Dr Derek Panchuk
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia and high performance to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development. Rather than focusing on WHAT they coach, he works with coaches at the professional, National, State, and regional level to cut through the jargon and gimmicks and make small changes to HOW they coach that have a big impact.
Presenter: Dr Derek Panchuk
Spending training time wisely and getting the most of each session is a huge challenge for coaches. You may have heard the expression: “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect”, but what does perfect practice look like?
In this webinar, Derek explored the idea of deliberate practice. This is the type of practice that some scientists say is the key to great learning and development. He compared different types of practice and what sets deliberate practice apart from other types of practice. He then unpacked how you can use these ideas create deliberate practice conditions in your training environments.
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia and high performance to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development. Rather than focusing on WHAT they coach, he works with coaches at the professional, National, State, and regional level to cut through the jargon and gimmicks and make small changes to HOW they coach that have a big impact.
Presenter - Dr Kenneth Graham
This webinar explores the concepts behind planning for excellent performance in the long term and Dr Kenneth Graham elaborates on
- Measuring and monitoring aspects of performance in athletes to identify trends in improvement and training requirements
- Planning for peak performance in upcoming competitions
- The importance of profiling elite performance within top level competition to understand trends in elite performance
The time it takes for an athlete to achieve personal best performance at the elite level
Presenter – Margo Wiltens
Margo is the current National Beach Volleyball Coach for Volleyball Australia and she is currently preparing our athletes for the 2021 Olympic Games.
In this presentation she brings unique perspectives from her home country, The Netherlands, on coaching and variations of styles to train our athletes.
Differential Learning, Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning will all be explored.
Even though team sports emphasize team performance each individual is in need of customized training to grow and develop. This presentation will touch on the stimulation of readiness and an emphasis on differential and implicit learning that can be achieved through influential coaching.
Talent might be the starting point but the significance of coaches, parents, friends and even teachers are undeniable when it comes to developing the talent. Understanding an athlete’s support network and establishing positive communication with that network (in particular the athlete’s parents) is crucial to developing an athlete’s talent and translating that to successful performance.
Presenter: Margo Wiltens
Margo Wiltens is the National Beach Volleyball Coach for Volleyball Australia and she is currently preparing our athletes for the 2021 Olympic Games. She has spent the last 15 years in high performance roles in sport & business and she has specialised in talent, people & skill development for the last 8 years. She has been a National Coach in Volleyball Programs Australia and The Netherlands and she holds a Master's in Law & Sport Performance and she is a former high performance athlete herself.
Ever feel like you’re spinning your tires and not getting where you need to go? How we design and deliver training sessions can have a big impact on skill learning and development. Using the latest evidence in skill acquisition can help you get the most out of the limited time that you have with your athletes and set them on the path to success. In this webinar, I’ll introduce you to important training design concepts and share stories and strategies that have helped coaches create learning environments and use their time more effectively.
Presenter - Derek Panchuk
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia, as the National Lead for Skill Acquisition at the AIS, and a coaching consultant to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development.
Ever feel like you’re repeating yourself and your messages aren’t getting through? What we say, when we say it, and how we say it can have a big impact on skill development. Taking the time to understand how your words can influence learning is one of the best investments a coach can make. In this webinar we’ll connect the dots between the science of feedback and art of communication and explore tools to improve communication so you can have more meaningful coach-athlete interactions.
Presenter - Derek Panchuk
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia and as the National Lead for Skill Acquisition at the AIS to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development.
Rather than focusing on WHAT they coach, he works with coaches at the professional, National, State, and regional level to cut through the jargon and gimmicks and make small changes to HOW they coach that have a big impact.
Presenter – Margo Wiltens
Margo is the current National Beach Volleyball Coach for Volleyball Australia and she is currently preparing athletes for the 2021 Olympic Games.
Margo has spent the last 15 years in high performance roles in sport & business and she has specialised in talent, people & skill development for the last 8 years. She has been a National Coach in Volleyball Programs Australia and The Netherlands and she holds a Master's in Law & Sport Performance.
Describing her presentation content in her own words …
“With a Dutch heart, the power of choice has shaped my decision making. My vision on life. Nurtured in a individualistic society as ‘we’ live in The Netherlands, I find myself in a more cohesive environment within Australia. When the conversation turns to the athlete life, the power of choice is debatable. Who knows when athletes are ready to perform. The coach or the actual opportunity to achieve results. To test your ability every single day, striving for improvements, requires a sophisticated resilience, self-belief and a support system. What means 'performance readiness’? In various stages of performance development.
On the 30th September I have been given the opportunity to share my knowledge and vision on this topic. My name is Margo Wiltens. I am an international performance coach working for Australia towards the Olympic Games 2021.”
Great development starts with great coaching. As we move back to normal in the sporting world, it’s the perfect opportunity to take a good look in the mirror and ask ourselves where we can grow as coaches to better help an athlete’s and team’s development. In this webinar we explored 5 BIG questions, around planning, engagement, and feedback that will help coaches start to re-frame the way they approach athlete and team development.
Presenter - Derek Panchuk
Derek helps coaches build bridges between the science of skill learning and the art of coaching so they can discover new ways to develop talent and teams. Derek uses his 17+ years of experience in academia and as the National Lead for Skill Acquisition at the AIS to support coaches as they create a reflective, mindful approach to athlete development.
Rather than focusing on WHAT they coach, he works with coaches at the professional, National, State, and regional level to cut through the jargon and gimmicks and make small changes to HOW they coach that have a big impact.