Pete Walters helps ETA

The ETA was fortunate enough to welcome ‘Mr Touch’ Peter Walters from Touch New Zealand to our Touch pitches in the last month. Pete is Head of National Coaching and Elite Development Manager of Touch New Zealand and came over to work with some old faces and plenty of new ones too!

During Pete’s stay he delivered a coaching presentation on the Saturday evening of the Manchester NTS double header, in which 100+ players, coaches and referees attended. The presentation covered ‘The trends of the game’, effective line attack in the mixed game, effective use of ‘strong link’ defence in the mixed game, and transitional play in mixed Touch. Many people offered their feedback after the session; “Pete’s presentation was really engaging and his passion and knowledge of the game really shone through”. “Pete just knows so much about our game…. He was brilliant!”.

Pete was then on the road visiting and running training sessions in Manchester, Nottingham, Bristol, Cambridge, London and Reading where he delivered various development sessions. Pete commented on the significant improvement of not only the skill level of the game within England, but also the improvement in the knowledge of the game since he last visited in 2013.

All of the sessions were very well received and players attended from every corner of the country to ensure they could access the vast amount of knowledge and experience of touch that Pete has. Not only did Pete manage to dodge the rain at all 6 sessions, but over +200 players attended throughout the week, with Reading being the most popular with almost 80 participants, including a kids session too.

 

Walters ran sessions for the EMO and EWO elite teams, sharing knowledge with national coaches along the way.

[caption id="attachment_8378" align="aligncenter" width="499" caption="Great to see 2 legends of the game catching up and assisting the sport grow!"][/caption]

 

The final aspect of Pete’s visit was to deliver an Advanced Coaching Course in London. There were 6 coaches in attendance over the 2 day course and they all left enthused and empowered after immersing themselves in the practical and theory sessions that Pete delivered.

The ETA would like to thank Pete for taking the time out his busy schedule with Touch New Zealand and Auckland Rugby to come across and help develop the great game of Touch throughout England. The presentation in Manchester, the various development sessions and the Advanced Coaching Course in London has invigorated everyone throughout England Touch as we prepare for the 2014 European Championships and the 2015 World Cup.