Friday 30 January 2009

Today, Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland welcomed the start of a new programme aimed at increasing the number of women coaches in Scottish sport and in particular supporting their progression in their sport.

Current research shows that across the UK women are underrepresented in coaching and are disproportionately concentrated at lower levels. Only 25% of coaches are female and this figure reduces further along the coaching pathway with only 8% of national and Olympic level coaches being women. Furthermore only 12% of female coaches are paid for full time coaching.

The three-year pilot programme ‘Women in Coaching’ is designed to improve the progression of women in coaching. One of the main aims of the programme is to increase the skills of existing women coaches who are interested in making coaching a career.

This targeted initiative is for female coaches living or working in the Borders, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Tayside & Fife and involves approximately six coaches from each of the sports of swimming, netball, gymnastics, tennis and hockey.

The programme is led by sportscotland and delivered in partnership with Scottish Swimming, Netball Scotland, Scottish Hockey, Scottish Gymnastics, Tennis Scotland, Glasgow City Council, Edinburgh City Council, Scottish Borders Council and Tayside and Fife Sports Partnership. The programme will receive an investment of over £135,000 between the partners over a period of three years.

A crucial part of the programme is mentoring whereby each coach will create and undergo a personal development plan supported by a dedicated mentor. The mentors will provide tailored support around a variety of life, business and sport related issues, with technical areas of coaching development provided by the appropriate Scottish governing body of sport.

Women can stay on the programme anything between one and three years depending on how far they wish to progress to hopefully reach Level 2 and 3 coaching qualifications.

Over the three years the pilot programme plans to target up to 70 female coaches, with future plans for it to be expanded to other sports if successful.

Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland said: “sportscotland recognises that inspirational and well-trained coaches can make all the difference to a person’s sporting experience and that they play an important role in Scotland’s future sporting success. However it is important that women are well represented in the workforce and have the opportunity to progress along the coaching pathway.

“There are many varied reasons why women do not progress and hopefully the Women in Coaching Programme will go some way to address these issues with its personalised, tailored approach, ultimately ensuring there are more women role models and leaders.“

One up and coming female coach hoping to take advantage of the programme is Rhona Simpson. A former Scottish and Great Britain International hockey player, Rhona is now coaching with the Great Britain U21 squad and is keen to develop her skills and experiences as a coach. Commenting on the programme she said: “I think it is really important that more women are encouraged and supported to take up coaching and I am really looking forward to being part of the programme.

“Although I have been a player at elite level for many years and have a good understanding of what is required I still have a lot to learn as a coach. I also think it will be great to share ideas from across the other sports involved that could be beneficial for hockey.”

• The coaches and mentors will come together for the first time at the launch of the Women in Coaching Programme (WICP) at the sportscotland National Centre Inverclyde on 29-30 January 2009.
• sportscotland’s role within coaching in Scotland is to advise and support our partners to develop and implement their coaching plans in line with ‘Coaching Scotland’, our plan for the delivery of coaching and to reach our shared goal of improving the quality and quantity of coaching in Scotland.