The association will team up with Sports Focus to run the program, which has been been funded by the Department of Planning and Community Development.

"The target for the program is female and youth coaches, and those who coach women and juniors," association president Gina Smith said.

"We are right in the middle of the roll-out of this program, which is not just about completing the National Sport Association accreditation system, but also about a holistic approach.

"This approach incorporates educating the coaches about leadership and establishing a leadership group that will mentor coaches across the association and break down barriers between clubs," she said.

Local hockey player and former president of the Strathdale Hockey Club Toni Domaschenz is co-ordinating the program.

Gina Smith said the training of coaches would be multi-faceted, to ensure that the future of hockey players in the region remained bright.

"We are having skill-based sessions, such as how to coach goalies - something that is not common knowledge or practice - in addition to theory sessions," she said.

The first skills-based session will be run on Saturday at the Ashley Street hockey complex in Ironbark.

Olympian Lachlan Dreher will teach coaches about the fundamentals of good goalkeeping and the importance of goalkeepers in every hockey side.