USA Field Hockey Coach Education is built on a simple belief: when coaches grow, athletes thrive. Wherever you are in your coaching journey, our goal is to meet you where you are, support where you want to go, and provide meaningful opportunities to keep learning, growing, and making an impact on the athletes and communities you serve.
Through In the Circle, USA Field Hockey’s Member App, coaches can find practical tools, fresh ideas, and learning designed for real coaching moments and continued development. Online learning, in-person education, and the Coach Certification Program provide additional opportunities to deepen your knowledge, strengthen your coaching practice, and pursue your own development goals. Coach Education also comes to life at select USA Field Hockey events throughout the year, including the Nexus Championships. And as the game continues to evolve, so will the learning, resources, and opportunities we provide.
Together, these opportunities are grounded in USA Field Hockey’s American Development Model — a long-term approach to developing athletes, supporting coaches, and strengthening the people and organizations who help build our sport.
The American Development Model (ADM) grew from a broader movement in sport toward developing athletes for the long term — not simply focusing on short-term results. In Canada, the Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) framework was introduced nationally in 2005, helping shift the conversation toward what athletes need at different ages and stages of development.
In the United States, USA Hockey saw a need for change. After studying youth development, sport science, coaching practices, and successful approaches at home and abroad, USA Hockey developed and launched the American Development Model in 2009. The goal was to create better, more age- and developmentally appropriate experiences that help athletes learn, enjoy the game, develop their potential, and stay involved longer.
In 2014, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee partnered with USA Hockey to adopt and adapt the ADM for the broader Olympic and Paralympic movement. Today, the ADM helps National Governing Bodies create positive sport experiences centered on long-term development, quality coaching, athlete safety, fun, and appropriate challenge.
USA Field Hockey is bringing those principles to life in a way that reflects our game, our athletes, and the people who shape their experience. The ADM gives us a shared approach to development, while recognizing that no two journeys look exactly the same.
At its simplest, our ADM means giving athletes the right experience at the right stage — making it fun, engaging, supportive, and appropriately challenging so they can learn, grow, stay connected, and stay in the game.
But development does not happen in isolation. Every athlete is influenced by the people, programs, organizations, and environments around them. Creating great experiences — and a lifelong connection to field hockey — is shared work.
We call the people and organizations who help make those experiences possible the Builders of Our Sport.
They are the people on the ground every day — coaching, officiating, organizing, teaching, supporting, volunteering, leading, and creating opportunities for others to experience the game. They include coaches, officials and umpires, parents and families, clubs, recreation and multi-sport organizations, schools, colleges and universities, and our junior and high-performance environments.
Many people are more than one kind of Builder. A coach may also be an umpire. A parent may become a volunteer, administrator, coach, or official. An athlete may one day become the person who introduces the next generation to the game.
We honor the work our Builders do because the experiences they create can shape a lifelong love of field hockey.
At the heart of this system are our Clubs. They are the lifeblood of field hockey in the United States — creating opportunities to play, developing athletes, coaches and officials, connecting families and communities, and giving people a place to belong and build a lasting relationship with the game.
Every Builder has a different role, but together they shape the environments in which athletes learn, compete, belong, and grow. When athletes, families, coaches and officials feel supported, challenged, connected, and inspired by the game, they are more likely to stay involved — and many will become the next generation of Builders.
Together, Builders create the foundation for a stronger, more sustainable sport — developing athletes today while inspiring the next generation to grow, lead, and carry field hockey forward for generations to come.
Within that larger system, coaches have one of the most direct influences on an athlete’s everyday experience. Through the environments they create the relationships they build, and the decisions they make, coaches can shape how athletes learn, grow, perform, and ultimately how they feel about the game.
And just as athletes develop over time, so do coaches. That is where the USA Field Hockey ADM Coach Pathway begins.
The ADM Coach Pathway is USA Field Hockey’s framework for supporting coaches throughout their journey — from their first steps into coaching through continued development, advanced and high-performance environments, leadership, mentoring, and lifelong engagement with the game.
It recognizes that coaches come from different backgrounds, develop at different rates, and pursue different goals. Some may find their purpose coaching young athletes. Others may pursue collegiate, junior, or high-performance environments. Many will move between roles and stages over time.
The pathway provides direction without prescribing one route — meeting coaches where they are, supporting where they want to go, and providing meaningful opportunities to continue learning and developing throughout their coaching journey.
THE GOAL: Meet coaches where they are and create a path for continued growth. Provided practical tools and trusted guidance coaches can adapt to their athletes, environment, and goals.
Coaches create environments that feel energetic, connected, and fun.
Coaches care for their own well-being becuase how they show up shapes the environment around them.
Coaches start with the athlete - what they need, how they learn, and what helps them feel confident, supported, and engaged.
Coaches help athletes understand the game by connecting skill development, tactical awareness, and decision-making.
Coaches let the game do more of the teaching, using play to build understanding, confidence, and decision-making.
Coaches rely on shared principles to create alignment, guide decisions, and adapt with purpose in the moment.
Coaches continue to grow, give back, and stay meaningfully connected to the game.
Explore gives coaches access to practical learning, resources, and tools they can use throughout their coaching journey.
Trained and certified coaches help create the experiences that keep athletes learning, growing, and connected to the game. Grounded in the ADM, USA Field Hockey’s Coaching Certification Program provides progressive professional development that helps coaches strengthen their practice and continue growing throughout their coaching journey.
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