Tag

female coaching network

Professor Leanne Norman is our next Guest – FCN

written by Hugh

We are incredible honoured and excited to announce our guest for the next FCN | European Sports Leadership & Network event will be the World renowned Professor of Sport and Sociocultural Studies Professor Leanne Norman.

Leanne is based at Leeds Beckett University and is also the Director of the Research Centre for Social Justice in Sport and Society within the Carnegie School of Sport. Her research utilises a critical sociological lens to examine sport organisational and coaching cultures to address gender equity and diversity within sport coaching workforces.

Leanne is an internationally recognised researcher for her research and writing within the area of gender equality and issues of diversity related to sports coaching, sports leadership, and organisations. Her work is driven towards improving the participation, performance, and leadership pathways for diverse social groups, principally, different groups of women

Leanne has been a huge support to the FCN over the years, and most recently has partnered with us to deliver a groundbreaking research project aimed at mapping the current landscape for female track & field coaches in the U.K. A huge thanks to Leanne for joining us for our event!

As always, everyone from every sport and country is welcome to join us! See you then!

Register here – https://femalecoachingnetwork.com/2021/01/15/sixth-event-1st-february-2021-with-special-guest-professor-leanne-norman/

18th January 2021 0 comment

TSF News

Meet the Forgotten First Female Coach in the NFL

written by Hugh

The NFL has made waves over the last few years bringing in a number of female coaches across the league.

Whether through projects such as the Women’s Careers in Football Forum led by NFL Director of Football Development Sam Rapoport, the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship or through the many internships clubs provide, the league now has a number of women hired full time coaching across it’s franchises.

This season names include Chelsea Romero (S&C) at the LA Rams, Jennifer King (Offensive Assistant Coach) at Washington, Lori Locust (Asst D Line Coach) and Maral Javadifarat (S&C) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Emily Zaler (S&C) at Denver Broncos, Callie Brownson (Chief of Staff) at Cleveland Browns, and Katie Sowers (Offensive Asst. Coach) at the 49ers.

Over the last few years other hired coaches include Phoebe Schecter, Kathryn Smith, Jennifer Welter and Kelsey Martinez.

There have also been many women in intern roles since 2015, with Jen Welter being the first, followed by Odessa Jenkins, Collette Smith, Stephanie Balachko, Elena Grigelevich, Erica Vinson-Ondecko, Shaakira Hasslell, Mickey Grace and many more since!

However, there is one name left off that list – Lee Brandon.

Lee Brandon, CSCS, RSCC*E, NSPT is an internationally recognized Strength and Conditioning Expert and is the first female coach in NFL history and was hired by the New York Jets in 1990 as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach.

Lee’s journey through the World of elite sport and strength and conditioning is fascinating; from a near death experience and nearly losing her arm in 1979, becoming the first female coach in the NFL in 1990, working with a number of Olympic athletes from 1984 – 2016 and now being a two time World Long Drive Champion.

We wanted to hear Lee’s story in her own words and connected with her via Zoom to hear her insights, her stories and why she feels she has been left out of the conversation of being the first female coach in the NFL.

Exclusively for the FCN – please see our full interview with the forgotten first female coach in NFL, Lee Brandon.

3rd November 2020 0 comment

Athletics

A Grassroots Perspective on the Impact of Covid-19

written by Hugh

Hannah Lees – an England Athletics Coach in Running Fitness (CiRF – and her team of eight Leaders in Running Fitness (LiRF) have almost 650 grassroots runners on their database with 98% of those being female.

With a focus on road and trail running from 5k to full marathons, all of Hannah’s athletes are grassroots amateurs who train and compete around their daily commitments. With so many of her clients having hectic lifestyles, Hannah is keen that enjoyment is at the top of the list for her training sessions.

“I wanted to create the least intimidating running group I could possibly create. I’ve grown my coaching team by carefully selecting people who have started running recently; who don’t look like a ‘stereotypical runner’; or who have struggled with their mental health and are open about it”.

Whilst many of the country’s elite athletes have struggled to keep up their intense training programmes during lockdown, grassroots runners like those in Hannah’s group have also suffered with all face-to-face coaching and group training banned for eight weeks from March to May.

“At the beginning of lockdown I couldn’t do anything. I thought about online coaching, but I felt that there was so much uncertainty over how catastrophic the pandemic was going to be and I was worried about encouraging people to run (both because they might spread the virus or that they hurt themselves) when we didn’t know how badly the NHS would be impacted”.

Full story & Images – https://femalecoachingnetwork.com/2020/09/08/a-grassroots-perspective-on-the-impact-of-covid-19/

20th September 2020 0 comment

TSF News

FCN Launch European Sports Leadership & Coaching Network

written by Hugh

The FCN | European Sports Leadership & Coaching Network aims to provide an interactive and supportive platform for women to connect, share and develop.

The project will encourage discussion on a variety of topics including; how to navigate through a male dominated arena, negotiating salaries and insights into the workings of the high performance sports industry in Europe.

Starting in September 2020, on the first Monday of each month, the FCN will host an online webinar with a special guest who has a leadership / coaching role, or leadership / coaching experience within sport.

Limited places available.

MEET OUR FIRST GUEST!

Tracey Archer – Sponsorship Coordination Manager for SPAR International

Tracey’s job is to manage the sponsorship between SPAR International and all of the European Athletics Events. This includes delivering all SPAR sponsorship and organisation of corporate events at the European Athletics Championships, European Indoor Championships, European Team Championships, European Cross-Country Championships and European Junior Athletics events.

Tracey works directly with the European Athletics team along with the Athletics Federations, Local European Organising Committees and local SPAR partners to the particular country where each event is taking place.

During our first FCN| European Sports Leadership and Coaching Network meeting, Tracey will be sharing her own leadership journey and will be open for questions from the audience as to the challenges she has faced, her advice on overcoming adversity and sharing insights into the world of sports sponsorship.

Tracey, is originally from Zimbabwe and absolutely loves living in Amsterdam, which she has done for the past 12 years. She has also lived and worked in London in the UK.

Tracey has been a huge influence in the development of the FCN and has been a mentor to our founder Vicky for a number of years. We are super excited that Tracey will be our first guest!

22nd August 2020 0 comment

TSF News

When Things are Unfair, We’ll Come Together For Change.

written by Hugh

31st July 2020 0 comment

Athletics

Female Coach Stats in British Track & Field

written by Hugh

Below are a list of short videos highlighting some of the statistics we have discovered through our research of Track & Field in the U.K. More videos will be added over the coming weeks.

Check here: https://femalecoachingnetwork.com/2020/06/25/female-coach-stats-in-british-track-field/

21st July 2020 0 comment

Athletics

Why Are There So Few Women Coaching Elite Track & Field? (Vicky Huyton)

written by Hugh

In our series “Why Are There So Few Women Coaching Elite Track & Field?” so far, we have asked the fastest woman alive Carmelita Jeter and Assistant Track & Field Coach (Jumps and Multi Events) at Murray State University Kelsey Riggins.

This time around, we ask the question to our founder Vicky, who has been involved with athletics in the U.K. for almost 20 years, as a coach and development officer.

Why Are There So Few Women Coaching Elite Track & Field?

In my opinion which is formed from my own experience, through the many hundreds of conversations I have had with fellow female T&F coaches, as well as from the research findings from our FCN Track & Field Project, I think the number one reason is the lack of opportunities.

The number one thing stopping women coaching at the elite level in the U.K is simply that the governing bodies do not provide opportunities for women to be coaches part of senior teams, there are very few opportunities for women coaches to present at workshops and conferences and those women who do coach atheltes in the Top 100, receive very little support.

There has never been a female coach on senior GB international teams, less than 5-10% of all workshops and conferences put on by UKA and or the Home Countries have women presenting and only 10% of the athletes on the Futures Programme have a female coach.

Women coaches in the UK do not feel valued (I’m sure this is also the case for many male coaches too!), they do not see a career path in front of them and if they do produce an athlete that is showing talent to perform at an elite level, this athlete is often coaxed away from them.

Full story – https://femalecoachingnetwork.com/2020/06/08/why-are-there-so-few-women-coaching-elite-track-field/

8th June 2020 0 comment

Pick Your Sport TSF News

Keep your athletes on track with the help of our FCN Sports Therapist

written by Hugh

During the Covid-19 lockdown, our athletes daily habits are changing. Some may find it difficult to remain motivated to train at home, some may be sitting down for longer periods of time, and some may just feel a little lost without their coach by their side.

To help with this, we have brought Sports Therapist Aimée Knight on board to create a series of videos to provide athletes (and coaches) with some basic, but much needed exercises to keep their bodies in check throughout this period of being stuck at home and away from the gym.

________________________________________

Meet our FCN Sports Therapist Aimée Knight

Aimée completed her studies in Sports Therapy graduating with a BSc Hons degree in 2016 and now works in several varying areas of her field including men’s professional football, corporate health & well-being and private physiotherapy practice.

Aimée is one of a very small handful of women employed in men’s professional football in the U.K and is currently involved with Blackpool Football Club where she has been supporting the first team professionals since 2013. Aimée is part of the clubs medical team both during training and home and away fixtures.

Aimée has extensive knowledge and experience across a variety of diverse settings and with patients with a variety of needs ranging from injury rehab, general posture correction and specific sport support. She comprehensively structures well facilitated rehabilitation plans which are individually composed and carried out with patients from early stages right through to return of play.

Aimée has a passion for helping people to achieve their goals, which is the biggest driver of her work.

How Aimee can help you and your athletes

As well as our mini-series of videos, Aimée is also offering direct support to you and your athletes. Below is a list of what she can offer:
Injury advice and guidanceSport Specific Exercise PrescriptionPostural Correction ExercisesSport Specific Mobility ProgrammesGuidance on Creating Specific Home Workout Plans

For the first 10 people who get in touch, Aimée is offering a special discount of £15 off your first consultation – with a costs of only £20 ($25 USD | $35 CAD | $39 AUD)

If you would like to speak further with Aimée or book an online session with her, please email her at info@femalecoachingnetwork.comand include your name, sport and nationality.

5th May 2020 0 comment

TSF News

We Don’t Just Tick Boxes, We Make Change Happen

written by Hugh

The Female Coaching Network is more than just a website. It is a powerful and proactive organisation with one simple aim – to make a difference. We are “The Leading Global Community of Female Coaches Who Support, Drive and Influence Real Change in Sports Diversity.”

As one of the Worlds only independent sports organisations, we are perfectly placed to take a step back and dissect the governance and administration of sport, looking through the marketing messages and analysing how decisions are made by those in charge. We exist to understand how these decisions affect the lives and careers of women who coach. We are now in a unique position within sport, a position unrivalled by others, a position which provides female coaches with a loud voice and position which provides opportunity for change.

We want to achieve gender equality in high performance coaching and be the catalyst for sustainable gender equality growth and retention in sports coaching. It’s going to be a long journey, but step by step, we will make change happen.

Our vision is “to empower, enable and inspire female coaches to be the best they can be whilst creating cultural change within sport and sports federations.”

Full story & Images – https://femalecoachingnetwork.com/2020/04/27/we-dont-just-tick-boxes-we-make-change-happen/

28th April 2020 0 comment

Pick Your Sport

FCN and Leeds Beckett University have teamed together.

written by Hugh

Over the coming few months, the FCN and Leeds Beckett University will be undertaking research into the current situation of gender equality in high performance coaching in athletics in the U.K.

Gender equity and equality are central concerns for sporting international federations, having been identified as a core element of sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for its links to good sporting governance. However, there remains an acute imbalance of men and women in most positions of authority within sport, including senior management and leadership, as well as high performance (elite) coaching.

The aim of this present study will be to map who makes up the athletics coaching workforce in Britain, understand the experiences of female coaches working at or wanting to work in high performance athletics and gather intelligence as to the organisational processes and practices towards achieving gender equality within the home countries federations as well as British Athletics itself.

The findings will form the basis of a set of specific, practical recommendations and examples of good practice for British Athletics and the home countries to implement to work towards progressing to a more gender equal coaching workforce from competing through to higher levels of coaching.

“The Carnegie School of Sport here at Leeds Beckett University has a long, proud history of gender equity research. That work continues today as part of the Research Centre for Social Justice in Sport & Society here in Carnegie. We are committed to research that makes a difference; we deliver work that has impact and benefit for our partners. And that is why we are proud to work alongside the FCN to deliver this research. Both organisations are dedicated to understanding and addressing gender issues in order to make sure coaching is an equitable, enjoyable, and worthwhile profession for all.“

~ Dr Leanne Norman, Reader in Sport Coaching

“This is a piece of research I have wanted to undertake for a long time, and thanks to Dr Leanne Norman and Leeds Beckett University’s huge amount of support for this project, it is now possible to do. The sport of track & field has so many elements to it, and whilst it is an individual sport, there are many pitfalls for women who coach the sport – and the ima of this research is to find out what improvements need to be made to ensure fair opportunities for all coaches.”

~ Vicky Huyton (FCN Founder)

If you are a coach, governing body or athlete the U.K and want to find out more about this research, please email us at: info@femalecoachingnetwork.com

If you are a governing body from another sport and would also like to commission this type of research, please email us at: info@femalecoachingnetwork.com

21st April 2020 0 comment

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