Research from Sport England and Women in Sport show women only 30% of the coaching workforce are female. CSPs working with local and national partners such as Sports Coach UK‘s Reach Programme are seeking to readdress this balance and focusing on inspiring more women to get into coaching and then fully support them to remain coaching and stay motivated.
Between October 2015 and March 2016 13 CSPs worked with the Reach programme and provided opportunities to more than 300 women to lead physical activity within their local community. This has led to hundreds of women, many of them previously inactive, getting off their sofas and getting more active.
Charlie Crane Coaching Lead for the CSP Network says
“CSPs are working hard to ensure that they help overcome the barriers women face to ensure we increase the number of female coaches at all levels.
Using local insight CSPs are supporting females by organising local courses, providing funding and developing local networks for coaches to support and meet each other”
One project focused on increasing the number of female coaches is the Derbyshire Sports: This Girl Can Coach programme
Run by Coaching Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Sport Trust and funded by Sport England almost £10,000 has been secured to help boost the number of female coaches across the county and increase the number of people taking part in sport and physical activity.
20 women are currently involved in the programme, most of them new to coaching and some are progressing on their journey. The women involved range from 17 years old to 60 and cover 8 out of the 9 districts in Derbyshire. They will be delivering 9 different sports/ activities and most of them will be coaching predominantly females, focusing on getting more women active across the county.
For more information please contact Sue Watson suzanne.watson@derbyshire.gov.uk
Raising the Profile of Female Coaches
A number of CSPs are profiling female coaches in their regions throughout Women In Sport week. By sharing these coach success stories, the aim is to encourage more people to get into coaching by demostrating how to get involved, the benefits and rewards it brings.
- Leap
Profiling one of their Project 500 coaches Leap are aiming encourage more women to become involved by highlighting the transferable skills that women can take into coaching.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiuegwGI6yM&feature=youtu.be
- North Yorkshire – This Girl Can Coach
3 female coaches share their stories demonstrating the benefits and rewards for getting involved. This Girl Can Coach
- GreaterSport
Are celebrating female coaches and also trying to get new people into coaching. #PassOnYourPassion
For more information on how to get involved in coaching and volunteering please contact your local CSP. For more information on the CSP Network please contact Nicki Couzens ncouzens@cspnetwork.org
Notes for the Editor:
Data Sources
Sport England Active People Survey 10 Q2 (April 15-March 16)
Women’s Sport Week
Building on the momentum from the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio this summer, the collective force behind Women’s Sport Week calls on everyone within the sports community and beyond to use this occasion to organise events, generate debate, and show their support to help women and girls reach their full potential through sport.
Women’s Sport Week 2016 will take place from Monday 3rd – Sunday 9th October, with activities taking place across the UK to rasie awareness of opportunities for women of all abilities and backgrounds to engage in sport, by taking part, volunteering and experiencing live sport, and to play an active role in sport leadership and workforce, from coaching to boardrooms, across the country. During the week, Sky Sports and The BBC will devote more broadcast time to celebrations of women’s sport, in a bid to improve sustained and consistent media profiling of female athletes and sports teams.
Women’s Sport Week 2016 will celebrate and showcase women’s sport at every level, from the grassroots to the elite, and will highlight the incredible contribution that women make to sport.
The week is being led by the charity Women in Sport along with Sky Sports, BBC, National Governing Bodies and sport organisations including Sport England and DCMS.
About the CSP Network
The CSP Network is a nationwide network of 45 County Sports Partnerships employing circa 670 staff with a total turnover of £57 million. Our mission is ‘To improve lives by growing grassroots sport and physical activity’. By 2020, our headline goals are:
- To get 500,000 more adults participating regularly in sport.
- To reduce the number of adults that are inactive by 250,000.
- To get 1 million young people more active.
- We do this via:
- National Reach - Local Impact: Getting the nation active by delivering or commissioning high impact customer-led solutions.
- Clubs, Coaches & Volunteers: Developing a high quality, diverse workforce and supporting them to deliver inspiring activities that are accessible to all.
- Local Leadership: Co-coordinating the effective delivery of local sport and physical activity by brokering relationships and influencing stakeholders.
- Insight and Influence: Understanding the needs of the local area to influence and guide decisions to maximise investment into sport and physical activity.
- Awareness and Advocacy: Raising the profile of sport and physical activity through innovative local and national promotional campaigns.
For more information please contact Nicki Couzens, CSP Network ncouzens@cspnetwork.org