Developing female coaches
Introduction
This factsheet is one of a series, produced by WSFF and sports coach UK aimed at coaches who coach women or who are interested in coaching them in the future. Each factsheet provides insight into the female athlete and her needs, and guidance as to how better to coach and support her.
Developing female coaches
This factsheet focuses on the reasons for the under-representation of women in coaching and steps governing bodies of sport, national agencies and women themselves can take to address this.
Women and Football Coaching
Female Coach Development is an innovative project aimed at sustaining the participation of teenage girls in football through the provision of more qualified female coaches. This three year project will produce a coach development model that demonstrates how barriers faced by women who wish to embark on a career in football coaching can be overcome to provide more qualified female coaches.
Women in coaching
This fact sheet is provides a starting point for those looking to develop their own projects aimed at getting more women involved in coaching.
Since 2000 the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) has delivered targeted workforce development programmes to encourage and enable more women to become involved and develop as sports coaches.
In collaboration with other organisations that have run similar programmes nationally, we make some key recommendations about growing, retaining and sustaining your female coaching workforce.
The player pathway for women and girls
This factsheet will assist coaches and clubs in developing the player pathway for women in their sport.
We need to better recognise that women and girls take up sport at many different ages and life stages. Governing bodies need to ensure that women of all ages are encouraged and supported to progress and reach their potential. After they have reached their peak, sports should also ensure that they are not lost to the sport.
Women into Coaching 2
From August 2006 until July 2008 the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) managed a project that enabled 159 women across London to pursue sports coaching careers through the Women into Coaching 2 – London (WiC2) positive action programmes. Women were able to gain coaching qualifications across 8 sports up to Level 3 through this learner centred programme. It also looked to increase awareness across the sector of the range of issues faced by women in sports coaching and to provide further evidence of the future needs of women and girls.
Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold
Celebrating Silver, Going for Gold marks WSFF's 25th birthday with a look back at a quarter century of records from women's sport.
From Tessa Sanderson winning Olympic gold in 1984, to the IOC's decision in 2009 to add women's boxing to the London 2012 programme, the report charts both administrative and athletic milestones. Its pages are brought to life through a striking spread of photography and montage of memories from leading figures in sport.
In the report you will find both stories of WSFF and the past 25 years of women’s sport – presented in a way which we hope fulfils two objectives; firstly, to explain who we are, where we came from and where we are heading and secondly, to give you goose bumps.
We want you to feel the same shiver which travelled down our spines when we relived moments like Tessa Sanderson standing proudly atop the medal podium at the 1984 Olympic Games, Dame Kelly Holmes’ wide eyed shock at winning the second of her two gold medals in Athens, and the moment when England midfielder Jill Scott rose above a crowd of defenders to send England into the final of a major championship for the first time in 25 years.
While looking back fills us with joy, it is looking forward which really excites us. We are now operating in a time when more doors are being opened for women in sport and the amount of people working towards that same goal is growing. So while we’re proud to be celebrating our 25th birthday this year, we are already planning for the years ahead which we hope will bring even more reasons to be proud and of course, more goose bumps.