Only 30% of sports coaches are female and only 17% of them are qualified. Project 500 is the South East CSPs female coach development programme and we have been working hard to improve our engagement, support and ability to retain female coaches locally over the last two years through this project.
Today female coach engagement is significantly higher across Bucks & MK with over 50% attendance across all coach development programmes.
We put our successes over the last 12 months down to three key steps; attractive engagement, flexibility in our support offer, and ensuring we continue to provide something beyond initial support that meet their developmental needs as a coach.
Three steps to engaging female coaches
1. Engage
We have realised all coaches have a motivation and a story. We have tried to engage female coaches by telling positive, high impact stories.
- Video case studies promoting the concept women are already coaches
- Blog posts that appeal to women to think ‘If they can, I can’.
- Highlighting how the Leap Coach Bursary and our workshops have supported female coaching and can also support ‘someone else like them’.
2. Support
Female coaches are busy people and face different barriers. We have designed a flexible offer that can make it easier and more attractive for them to get involved.
- Leap Coaching Bursaries to gain level 1 and level 2 qualifications.
- Female only workshops to encourage sharing and networking.
- Online Q&A sessions with female role models to inspire local coaches.
3. Retain
Talking to and having the chance to understand our coaches and their needs has helped us shape future support to keep them involved.
- The Leap Mentoring Programme to support coaches over a longer period of time.
- Buddy Up to provide coaches with someone like them to connect with informally.
- Celebrating our female coaches as Leap Coaching Champions highlighting their achievements to others.
Its good to talk
We hope sharing our experiences has proved interesting to you. If you’d like more information to share how you’ve engaged female coaches then get in touch.
Sion Kitson
Workforce Development Manager
E: skitson@leapwithus.org.uk T: 01296 585580 M: 07738314100