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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Share the load, improve balance and use young and old: How clubs can tackle coaching challenges
They're the unheralded stars of sport. You won't see their face on TV, rarely their name in the paper, and yet they continue to beaver away on the quiet fields and waters and in halls across the land, catering for everyone from the God-gifted talented to the God-help-us craturs. There's even a decent chance you're one of them – or at least have been. According to some recently-published research commissioned by Sport Ireland, close to three out of 10 adults (29%) in this country have coached sport at some point. Half a million people – basically one in eight adults – are still currently volunteering in sport in some capacity each week. The majority of them are coaches. Up to 268,000 people – more than seven per cent of anyone aged 15 or older – coach on a weekly basis, dedicating an average 5.5 hours per week to it. Add that all up, as Benny Cullen, Sport Ireland's Director of Research and Innovation has, and you're talking about over a million hours of coaching happens in Ireland every week, almost all of it voluntarily. 'It's mind-boggling, really, that so many people have that almost vocational zeal to coach sport.' But here's the rub. According to that same Spotlight on Coaching survey published last month, over a fifth – 22% to be exact – of those current coaches can see themselves stepping away within the next two years. They just can no longer give it the time. Or partly they feel it's no longer worth all of that time. And if you're a woman, well, remaining in coaching or even getting into it at all is all the more challenging again. There are so many findings, so many obstacles, highlighted in this report. But if you're a suitably imaginative and ambitious club or governing body, there are multiple solutions too. 1. CHALLENGE YOUR BIASES – 'It's like women are glass.' Just as she won 50 caps playing rugby for Ireland, Nora Stapleton had multiple hats on her when digesting the Spotlight on Coaching report. The primary one would have been as Sport Ireland's women in sport lead as well as its director of strategic national governing body programmes. But she is also someone who has played rugby (in three World Cups), soccer (in FAI Cup finals) and Gaelic football (with Donegal) at an elite level. She has coached on and off as both a full-time development officer and as a volunteer, ranging from the recreational and grassroots right up to high performance. And she is a mother, which partly explains why her coaching career has been quite intermittent. With almost every finding in the report she could provide a personally-lived anecdote to firm it up. Want to know why women still only make up 36% of all coaches and 17% of high-performance coaches employed in this country? We tend not to see women as prospective coaches. We tend to see through them. Especially if it's a boys' or men's team that could do with some people to help out. 'A lot of it comes down to systemic biases that we now need to try to navigate. I've seen it first-hand where it's almost like women are made of glass while men are this shining light on sidelines. Men will look right past or through you to go and approach a man on the side of a pitch to help coach their kids; existing coaches tend to gravitate to the dads and ask them first towards doing some coaching rather than think to have a conversation with the mothers. 'It's no one's particular fault. It's just been bred into people. We have this perception that men are better coaches because traditionally we've always seen men coaching.' There has been progress. Back in 2007 there was a glaring 16% gap between how many men played sport compared to women. Now it's down to three per cent. Nora Stapleton playing for Ireland against Scotland during the 2014 Women's Six Nations. Picture: Ramsey Cardy / SPORTSFILE But in the coaching sphere, there's still that gulf. In part because a lot of coaches tend to be ex-players and most ex-players tend to be male. But only in part. Stapleton notes that there have always been more females that play hockey in Ireland than men yet how many female hockey coaches are in there in Hockey Ireland's senior high-performance teams? 'We did a survey back in 2020 of over 2000 women coaches and they talked about how they did not feel valued in their club, how they felt judged. They may have been confident in their coaching but if they were put in a situation with male coaches whereby say they had to report to a committee, they felt very judged by the committee as a female coach. High-performance recently-retired players have spoken about how they'll go on a coaching course and they'll be considered less competent and credible than a male coach who hasn't played in 20 years. 'It's about challenging behaviours and norms, including within your own club. Have we a coaching committee? Is there equal representation on that? When you're promoting coaching and recruitment of coaches, does your photographic imagery include female coaches? 'Rowing Ireland did an audit of their clubs and it was noted that the pictures on the wall of previous winners could be almost exclusively male because men had been taking part for longer. Females pick up on things like that. Where are we?' Sponsors, she highlights, pick up on it too. The fans and members of a sponsored female team are more likely to recall and support that brand than the supporters of a male-sponsored team. Financially as well as culturally, it makes sense to champion, recruit and retain more women's coaches. 2. SHARE THE LOAD When asked why they had ceased coaching, the most common reason by a distance cited by former coaches was they simply no longer had the time due to work or study. 'That one jumped out,' says Michael McGeehin, the director of Sport Ireland coaching. 'The time element is the most obvious barrier – we're all time poor. Another was cost. And another was travel. But even that links back to time: How long do you need me for? If as a club you can identify that, and reduce that, it can entice coaches in and retain the ones you have. Maybe have a pool of coaches involved with a particular team. The entire responsibility isn't going to fall on your shoulders.' Stapleton concurs on the idea of shared responsibility. It would definitely help attract and retain more female coaches. 'I was talking to one male coach whose wife coaches as well and he pointed out how while he could disappear and go into camp with a team for a weekend at the drop of a hat, she couldn't. There's just that imbalance in duties. That's one of the reasons why only 17% of coaches in high-performance sport are female. 'It's something Paralympics Ireland have tried recently. Instead of the one support provider or coach being expected to be away for four or five weeks, the duty is shared with someone else and you're only away for half that time. Sport Ireland came up with a maternity policy for carded athletes in 2021 which is being further revamped and we're now looking at NGBs (national governing bodies) having something similar for paid coaches.' 3. ASK, ESPECIALLY THE YOUNG – AND THEN ASK BACK THE OLD According to the report, 12% of those aged between 16 and 24 are currently coaching. But then work and study really comes into play; amongst 25-34 year-olds, only three per cent are coaching. It increases back up to 11% then though amongst 35-44 year-olds; you resume or take up coaching when your own children start playing. But then it starts to decline among older age-groups. Only two per cent of those aged 65 or over are involved in any kind of coaching. 'There's certainly a fluctuation in coaching involvement,' says Benny Cullen, Sport Ireland's research director. 'People tend to have a fluid involvement. Coaching is not a behaviour that they pick up and maintain for life. 'What the study highlights is that it's important to get people involved in coaching at a young age. Encourage them. Provide and subsidise their coach education. If they can build familiarity of coaching in their late teens, early adulthood, it puts a good grounding and is likely to increase their participation as they get older because they're back into familiar territory.' Donegal manager John Joe Doherty, left, with selector Michael McGeehin during a 2009 All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Derry. Picture: Oliver McVeigh / SPORTSFILE Then, in their 30s, ask them – and others – if they'd like to coach. The survey found a lot of people would be interested to help out – only they're never asked. Forty-five per cent of former coaches said they'd be willing to return. But will they be asked or encouraged? 'We could all be better at that,' says McGeehin, 'but some organisations and clubs are better and more proactive than others. Even just asking at registration day. Would you be interested in joining our coaching team?' A demographic ripe to be tapped into is the retired, notes Cullen. 'All of a sudden instead of being time poor, they have a whole pile of time back. They've possibly coached before and might be looking for something meaningful to do. 'There are barriers to overcome. Older former coaches surveyed felt they were possibly too old to coach. It's maybe reframing their involvement and that they're more mentors, whereby you're availing of their wisdom and experience to support that broader club environment and coach development piece.' 4. APPRECIATE WHO YOU ALREADY HAVE One of the last and standout findings of the research is that recognising the voluntary contribution of coaches is 'paramount'. Award schemes like the Federation of Irish Sport's volunteer of the year are great but clubs and regional boards, Cullen and McGeehin note, could be far more proactive at recognising the prophets in their own land. Retrospective gratitude is lovely. McGeehin recalls being at a funeral in Fermoy when he was tapped on the shoulder by a vaguely familiar face which he couldn't place a name on. 'Your sessions were great. And you were very fair.' Fifteen years earlier when they were both back in Donegal, McGeehin had coached that man when he was just a kid. 'It was a lovely moment, being in north Cork, far from Donegal and hearing that all those years later.' But the survey and study tells every club and sporting organisation. Don't wait for funerals to appreciate who and what you have. Especially when it could be theirs.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
5 Irish LGBTQ+ women in sport who changed the game
In 2022, one in five girls in Ireland dropped out of sport between primary and post-primary school, compared to one in 20 boys. Among the many reasons for this, a lack of representation stands out. That's why we've chosen to highlight the journeys of five Irish LGBTQ+ women in sport who've helped pave the way for others. Jackie McCarthy O'Brien When Jackie McCarthy O'Brien started playing football, it wasn't planned. She was jogging in a park when a ball came her way. She sent it back, and the manager asked her to join. The rest, they say, is history. She played in her early years with girls who were much older than her. In 1983, she became the first player of colour called up to the Irish national team, going on to earn 13 caps. However, her journey was unjustly cut short. After being sexually harassed by a coach, she was never selected again. She switched to rugby at 33, played for Munster, and represented Ireland at the 1998 World Cup. Today, she's a trailblazer for both people of colour and LGBTQ+ athletes. Lindsay Peat Lindsay Peat got into basketball at 13, thanks to her mother. She went on to represent Ireland in basketball and soccer, and played Gaelic football at county level. After losing the 2014 All-Ireland final with Dublin, she turned to rugby. Just eight games later, she made her international debut. Peat played in the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup and was named Ireland Women's Player of the Year. She struggled with her sexual identity growing up and has faced homophobia, but sport helped her embrace who she is. She's become a strong advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion, and was an ambassador for the 2019 Union Cup, where she stressed the importance of having queer women's teams to help people accept their identity. Nora Stapleton Nora Stapleton, from Donegal, was told as a child that girls weren't allowed to play rugby, so she focused on GAA and soccer. In 2007, after a casual tag rugby game with colleagues, she returned to the sport and quickly rose through the ranks. Within two years at the Old Belvedere, she was playing for Leinster and, soon after, the national team. Between 2010 and 2017, she earned 50 caps and helped win the 2013 and 2015 Six Nations. Off the pitch, she worked for the Irish Rugby Football Union and now promotes women's participation through Sport Ireland. Here in @sportireland we created the campaign @hermoves_ie to inspire, support and motivate teen girls to take part in sport. A key objective: to introduce girls to other sports and grow a more positive attitude towards sport. The video below highlights the impact of Her Moves. — Nora Stapleton (@NoraStapleton) March 6, 2024 Hannah Tyrrell Hannah Tyrrell joined the Dublin Ladies' football team at 12. At the same time, she began struggling with eating disorders, which continued through her teens. Sport became a vital escape and healing space. While studying at Trinity, she played soccer and futsal, then switched to rugby in 2013. Just six months after joining Old Belvedere, she joined the national sevens team. She later earned 60 caps with the 15s squad, playing in the Six Nations and for Leinster. After retiring from rugby in 2021, she returned to Gaelic football, winning an All-Ireland with Dublin, and now teaches history. She also became an ambassador for RPI Tackle Your Feelings wellbeing campaign and for Pieta House. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Hannah Tyrrell (@hannahtyrrell21) Katie McCabe Katie McCabe, the youngest captain of Ireland's national football team, started playing with boys and girls before joining Raheny United. At 20, she signed with Arsenal and earned her first international cap. Two years later, she was named captain. She's made history as the first Irish woman nominated for the Ballon d'Or and has been a driving force for equality. Thanks to her and Séamus Coleman's advocacy, the Football Association of Ireland introduced equal pay for men's and women's teams in 2021. Openly lesbian, McCabe has spoken about the more accepting environment in women's football compared to the men's game. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Katie McCabe (@katie_mccabe11) These five Irish LGBTQ+ women have changed the game, helping to create a better sporting world for everyone. To our delight, more and more inspiring queer women are emerging across the country. The post 5 Irish LGBTQ+ women in sport who changed the game appeared first on GCN.
