CSP: Leicester-Shire and Rutland Sport
The ‘Take the Lead’ project was set out to address the shortfall of women in leadership and coaching roles within Leicester-Shire and Rutland. Women in targeted areas, from specific communities and particular sports were invited to join the programme, gain confidence and acquire a range of qualifications. 29 women were recruited with 25 of them staying on the course and gaining some form of recognised award from Minimum Operating Standards through to leadership and coaching qualifications in a range of sports.
The Muslim women on the ‘Take the Lead’ programme have been extremely passionate about becoming good coaches and being positive role models for their daughters and fellow mothers in their community. Their motivation is to encourage their families to lead active and healthy lives. The group were very aware and conscious that there is a higher risk of diabetes amongst South Asian people. It is predicted that there will be a rise from 7.1% to 9% in Leicestershire by 2030. Feedback from the group also confirmed national research that quality coaching is at the heart of female participation: The importance of high quality coaching to female participation in sport was demonstrated recently when Sport England published an evaluation of the first year of the Active Women Project 2012. High quality coaching was described as ‘all-important’ in the report with the evidence suggesting it requires a mix of hard and soft skills including:
- A friendly and approachable personality that was reassuring for participants,
- Familiarity with the rules of sport
- The ability to give specific training or subtle hints to boost confidence and overall performance if required
- Confidence in handling sessions and any issues that arose
- Pro-active in contacting participants between sessions
The Coaching Development Manager at Leicester-Shire & Rutland Sport (LRS) has been supporting the Muslim women from Oadby Community Mosque to:
- Understand their experiences and the barriers and exclusions challenged
- Shape a flexible delivery model for the women to become leaders/activators
- Provide various opportunities for the women to access leadership and activation type qualifications (working with NGBs locally)
- Support the women to establish a physical activity session on Saturday mornings for the female community of Oadby & Wigston
- Create 1:1 bespoke plans for the Muslim women
- Create a long term workforce group plan for the women at the Oadby Mosque
The outcomes of the project are very clear:
- Ensuring that the women and girls in the Muslim community adopt healthy and active lifestyles
- Empowering the mothers within the group to become positive role models to their daughters especially in a male dominated culture
- Delivering regular sustainable activity on a Saturday morning for the local female community to access
- Understanding the motivations and barriers to Muslim women getting involved in coaching throughout all stages of the recruit, train and deploy process. This can be shared with other CSPs
Figures
- 6 women have completed the Table Tennis Activator qualification
- 6 women have completed the Cricket Coach Support worker workshop
- 6 women have completed the Badminton Smash Up Activator qualification
A Saturday morning session called ‘Active I’ runs every fortnight where 15-20 local young girls and their mums attend and participate in a physical activity session.
A Saturday morning Cricket session has been set up in partnership with Leicestershire County Cricket Club for the young girls to attend, the women from the Take the Lead group have complete the ‘Coach support worker’ qualification and will supporting the lead coach at these sessions.
Feedback:
“I couldn't have done it without your support and encouragement. You ladies have made it all possible for me. xx Razia”
“Thank you Gaynor Nash, Natalia Marshall and Amna Rafiq for giving us the opportunity as females coaches and guiding us through take the lead ”
“What an amazing activator course, thank you Gaynor Nash and Natalia Marshall xx”
“Thank you so much for making today a successful for all of us.”
“Thank you so much for the meeting today, we are thrilled to be offered this opportunity”