Sandy Schaare - Powerchair Football Coach
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Community CoachName of Coach
Sandy Schaare - Powerchair Football CoachTell us about the coach (over the last 12 months)
Sandy has been instrumental in the re-invigoration and development of Powerchair Football in the Waikato. His commitment to providing financial, logistical, and coaching support have been immense. The club would not be in the healthy and positive position it is in had it not been for Sandy stepping up. Sandy's background in coaching regular football and futsal together with his willingness to learn this version of the beautiful game, as well as being open to mentoring and coach development by an experienced coach has seen him create an exciting new crop of players. This has been particularly evident over the past 12 months when seeing the growth in the numbers of regular players, their skills and confidence, and the strong sense of mateship and support amongst the athletes.How has the coach demonstrated commitment to Balance is Better/Good Sports philosophies in the last 12 months?
Sandy has purposely created seasons, or, clusters of fortnightly training sessions to ensure players are not overburdened with their training commitments and can continue playing and exploring other sports and active recreational activities.His commitment to his own personal development as a Powerchair Football coach means he is able to deliver a quality coaching and playing experience to the athletes.
Sandy has been fervent in his desire to see more interaction and games with other clubs. While this has been difficult given Covid and other clubs experiencing a similar dearth in numbers, Sandy has connected with and built relationships with those other clubs and the NSO that oversees the sport, enabling those interactions to happen as soon as possible.
What is unique about the coach’s approach to creating a positive environment in sport and active recreation?
Sandy has a knack for balancing player development with a fun and positive approach. Laughter is a constant at the trainings, alongside serious, focused drills and skills.Sandy early on in his involvement with the sport was keen to identify the barriers to entry and retention of players. The cost of equipment, quality of equipment, and storage & transporting of that equipment were seen as major issues.
Powerchair Football can be played either with bolt-on modifications to athletes' regular day chairs or in purpose-built sports chairs. Bolt-ons were time-consuming to fit and remove each training and provided an inferior playing experience. Sports chairs are very expensive and burdensome to transport, store, and charge. Sandy proposed and drove the purchase of a fleet of second-hand sports chairs, funded by Parafed Waikato, and, had a trailer, purposely designed for the purpose of storing and transporting those chairs, jointly funded by Parafed Waikato and external sponsors, alleviating the need for the athletes to buy, store and transport the chairs. There is no doubt this these initiatives are instrumental in the growth of the club, and are the envy of other Powerchair Football clubs.
Through Sandy's previous football connections, Powerchair Football is now part of the Wanderers Sports Club whanau, allowing players to socialise and participate in events at Wanderers, with Wanderers providing new playing uniforms.
What are some of the results and/or growth observed in the coach’s athletes in the last 12 months?
Growth in numbers, player development, and regular attendance at trainings are the key indicators of Sandy's contribution to the sport. This is despite no inter-club games have been possible. This can be largely attributed to his approaches (see above), but also his proactive approach to promoting the sport at every opportunity. Sandy will introduce himself to power wheelchair users whenever it is appropriate, enthusiastically promoting the sport and inviting them to the next training.He maintains communications with players all the time via social media, reminding them of upcoming trainings and congratulating everyone after each training.
The range of ages of players has also increased during Sandy's tenure. A 70-year-old has enthusiastically joined the team, playing alongside young teenagers.
Below are some testimonials to Sandy:
Sandy expressed interest in powerchair football in 2020 as his son Emmet was a powerchair user and he was looking for a fun sport for Emmet to participate in. Sandy has had many years as a football and futsal coach. At that stage, our Waikato powerchair football team ceased due to a lack of interest and support. In November 2020, Parafed Waikato with the help & support of Sandy ran a PC Football ‘Have a Go’ day in Hamilton and invited other regions to come along. We ended up with over 50 players and supporters attending! Following on from the success of this day, at the beginning of 2021, Sandy volunteered to be the coach of a team and went about establishing a new team, a new name and branding. Sandy connected with the Wanderers Football Club and organised for them to sponsor our players with a playing shirt and hoodie. The team is now called the ‘Wanderers Wasps’.
Parafed Waikato and Sandy fundraised for a covered trailer and 5 secondhand sports powerchairs. This has removed the financial burden for our players and their families. Sandy organised for the trailer to be professionally sign written at his own cost. The trailer promotes Parafed Waikato, the Wanderers Wasps & our sponsors. Sandy also organised for the trailer to be wired so we could charge all the chairs from inside the trailer.
The team train fortnightly at Hillcrest High school and for some of our players, this is the highlight of their fortnight as it is just as much a social time and lots of laughs as it is playing the game.
Sandy has now been coaching our PC Football team for nearly 2 years. He has always made training fun and rewarding for our players and is always finding ways to upskill them and looking for new methods of teaching. Sandy is always encouraging and motivating them. He keeps connected to the entire team outside of training as well and is an important part of their lives.
Sandy’s wife Penni is also always there to help unload the chairs and give a helping hand as well as their extended family. We would not be able to run our Powerchair Football program if it wasn’t for Sandy. He generously puts in many hours of his time to make it such a successful sports program and he has such a positive impact on so many of our members' lives.
Thank you Sandy, you’re a legend!
Cathy Wooller - Parafed Waikato Sports Development Officer.
Sandy is a dedicated coach whose main aim is to ensure all players are enjoying themselves and developing some skills along the way. I came to the team with no football experience but that did not matter. I was given a uniform and felt instantly welcome. He is so inclusive and caring it doesn't matter your age or background. Everyone is welcome! He talks about his experience of playing football at the same school we have our practice at. He is great at adapting and modifying, as can sometimes be required, especially if he sees it is something we will enjoy. Life is too short to be too serious all the time and alongside equipping me with some football skills; he has also taught me to slow down and enjoy the game.
Emma, Wanderers Wasps team member.