SLOCOACH is turning Australia’s top female professional athletes into your new personal coach, right at the click of a button.

 

NSW Swifts Netball captain Maddy Proud is adding another bow to her arrow, becoming a SLOCOACH herself, offering netball bundles that give insight from her inner sanctum professional netball club and life.

 

Founded by Luke Jecks, Luke Holmes and Derek Hardy in May 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital start-up platform has taken the coaching world online and by storm.

 

Offering one-on-one sessions via video call, the professional athletes-turned coaches use cutting edge video technology to connect with their students and provide personalised feedback to each unique user regarding their technique and performance.

 

And for the 27-year-old, the opportunity to become a mentor on SLOCOACH was the perfect chance to help those who will come after her.

 

“It came at such an amazing time. It made me realise that if sport was taken away when I was a kid, I would be a totally different person today,” Proud said.

 

Add the COVID pandemic into the mix, the elite netballer knows that children are being starved of the opportunities she had to make it professionally as a teenager.

 

“For me, knowing that kids weren’t getting the opportunities I did was pretty scary. So, being able to do this remotely is perfect.”

 

Plus, the flexibility afforded to the Swifts captain means she can give her all no matter that time of year.

 

“The best thing about SLOCOACH is you can do it as much or as little as you like.”

 

“It’s something you don’t have to fit in every week. I can say I’m playing finals, or take on more in the off-season,” Proud said.

 

And, as we all live through a once-in-one-hundred-year pandemic, there really hasn’t been a better time for SLOCOACH to find its feet.

 

The digitalisation since COVID began, the world of online meetings and classes, has allowed SLOCOACH to bloom in tough times and gives Proud the chance to try out coaching in a modern way.

 

“I can fulfil a purpose of mine [to coach] and fit it in to my schedule,” she said.

 

“For the lifestyle we live, on the road, things change. Being able to do SLOCOACH from the comfort of my living room and put effort in without having to be in the same place lines up perfectly.”

 

And for Proud, she knows that offering her skills is helping Australia’s young athletes recover from the devastation of COVID and loss of all that once was ‘normal’.

 

“You hear stories about teenagers who don’t want to go back to sport after COVID. I think that is due to lack of training, so SLOCOACH is a great way on a realistic level to keep skills up.”

Yet, the most important thing she preaches is the connections she and the SLOCOACHES build every day with ease.

 

“You get the skill benefit, but there’s the relationship, the feedback and advice from that athlete. You’re just having a chat.”

 

SLOCOACH has over 20 sports and more than 70 coaches available, offering a new outlet and first-rate digital coaching to sports fans across the nation.

 

You can check out Maddy Proud’s netball bundle hereand see some free training drills and the upcoming Virtual Academy on offer.

 

You can also find her new book ‘Grace the Court’ here.