Latest news with #UKSport
Glasgow Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Glasgow Times
Why are female coaches still an endangered species?
Women being good athletes and being deserving of recognition is becoming, whisper it, normal. In contrast, though, the progress made when it comes to representation of female coaches has been negligible, if there at all. The coaching world is well and truly dominated by men. Yes, there's pockets in which female coaches are more commonplace - invariably it's within women's sport - but on the whole, coaching remains a man's game. The need for more female coaches was brought into the spotlight this week with the launch of Judy Murray's 'Learn to Lead' initiative, which aims to 'equip and empower young girls to become Scotland's next generation of sporting leaders'. Murray's goal is not only to encourage more females into coaching - she ultimately wants to see more women in non-athlete roles across the board including fitness trainers, physios, management and in the boardroom - and she's right in the assertion that women are outnumbered in pretty much every area of sport, but it's within the coaching sphere that the disparity between male coaches and female coaches is so clearly apparent. Judy Murray is a huge supporter of increasing the number of female coaches in sport (Image: Connor Mollison) If we take elite sport first, and specifically elite men's sport, then female coaches are like black rhinos in that they're such an endangered species that they're almost impossibly hard to spot. The situation is better in women's elite sport with female coaches more commonplace. But despite having a greater presence in women's sport, female coaches remain chronically outnumbered by male ones. Murray knows what it feels like to exist in a male-dominated world; for the entirety of her coaching career, she was either the lone women in the room, or was one of only a tiny group of women in a sea full of men. The picture at grassroots level is not much better than in elite sport. Across grassroots sport, male coaches, again, dominate the landscape. Indeed, research released earlier this year which was conducted by YouGov on behalf of UK Sport reported that only 38 percent of sports coaches are female and perhaps most worryingly, this is a 6 percent drop from two years ago. There's a number of reasons why having female coaches is not just important, but vital. Firstly, there's the 'if you can't see it, you can't be it' argument. The presence of female coaches shows young girls that coaching is a viable path for them to choose. We've seen the benefits of young girls starting to realise that it is entirely feasible to dream about becoming an elite athlete - the increased profile of women's sport has made becoming a professional athlete a legitimate career goal for young girls - but the dearth of female coaches means that, all too often, becoming a coach just doesn't seem like a realistic aim for many young girls and women. Secondly, female coaches often bring an entirely different approach to their work in comparison to their male counterparts. Women have a different manner, a different way of tackling challenges and issues, a different way of communicating and, perhaps most importantly, a different (and better) understanding of female athletes. Female athletes are not, in so many ways, the same as male athletes. Yet for male coaches, it is, understandably, extremely hard for them to tweak their approach accordingly because, to put it simply, they often just don't get it. To a lot of male coaches, an athlete is an athlete but female coaches have a greater understanding of how female athletes may need to be treated not more gently, but differently to male athletes. Any progress with the representation of female coaches, particularly at elite level which is the most visible, must be celebrated. The Scotland women's football team had two high-profile and successful women at the helm in the shape of Anna Signeul between 2005 and 2017 and Shelly Kerr between 2017 and 2020. Male coaches then took over until, encouragingly, a female returned to the helm in the shape of Australian national, Melissa Andreatta, whose first game in charge was just over a week ago. There's a similar picture in women's club football too, in which there's a number of female coaches, but plenty of men as well. Individual sport, for some reason, seems to fare even worse when it comes to female coaches at elite level. In Murray's sport of tennis, female coaches are an astonishingly rare sight, particularly in the men's game but they're remarkably uncommon in women's tennis too, and this is mirrored across many other individual sports. There's a number of reasons for this. Elite sport is not a working-from-home job. Working with an elite athlete means you have to go where they go and in the case of most athletes, that means trekking the globe for over half the year. In the case of tennis, it means globetrotting for eleven months of the year. For many women, particularly if they have children, this is just not a workable or an attractive proposition. In contrast, it's far more common, and far more accepted, for men to leave their family at home for months at time while they travel the world as an elite-level coach. And there's the ingrained gender-bias or, in the worst cases, misogyny, which means women remain undervalued and underestimated as coaches. The decades-long dominance of men in the coaching sphere has resulted in women's potential value being totally underestimated, with the assumption being commonplace that men just make better coaches. This is absolutely and definitively not true, but it remains a pervading belief throughout many areas of sport. I'm optimistic that the number of female coaches both at grassroots and at elite level can improve. The progress made by women's sport in recent years is surely an indicator of what can be done. But progress won't happen overnight, nor will it happen without a concerted effort to change things. Murray's programme will, I hope, bear some fruit within Scotland because it's not only female athletes who would benefit from more female coaches, it's sport as a whole. AND ANOTHER THING… The news that Scotland women's rugby team will play at Murrayfield for their Six Nations match against England next year is thrilling news. The Scotland women's team has made impressive progress in recent seasons and playing at Murrayfield, where they're expected to attract a record-breaking crowd, is deserved reward. (Image: MOLLY DARLINGTON/ GETTY IMAGES) While the current home to the women's national team, Hive Stadium, has been an excellent venue, there's indisputably something different about playing at the national stadium, and it gives the women's game the extra kudos that comes with playing at the sport's national stadium. This is a significant step forward for women's rugby in Scotland, and now it's in the players hands to make the most of it with a good perforce against England next April.
The National
3 days ago
- Sport
- The National
Why are female coaches still an endangered species?
Women being good athletes and being deserving of recognition is becoming, whisper it, normal. In contrast, though, the progress made when it comes to representation of female coaches has been negligible, if there at all. The coaching world is well and truly dominated by men. Yes, there's pockets in which female coaches are more commonplace - invariably it's within women's sport - but on the whole, coaching remains a man's game. The need for more female coaches was brought into the spotlight this week with the launch of Judy Murray's 'Learn to Lead' initiative, which aims to 'equip and empower young girls to become Scotland's next generation of sporting leaders'. Murray's goal is not only to encourage more females into coaching - she ultimately wants to see more women in non-athlete roles across the board including fitness trainers, physios, management and in the boardroom - and she's right in the assertion that women are outnumbered in pretty much every area of sport, but it's within the coaching sphere that the disparity between male coaches and female coaches is so clearly apparent. Judy Murray is a huge supporter of increasing the number of female coaches in sport (Image: Connor Mollison) If we take elite sport first, and specifically elite men's sport, then female coaches are like black rhinos in that they're such an endangered species that they're almost impossibly hard to spot. The situation is better in women's elite sport with female coaches more commonplace. But despite having a greater presence in women's sport, female coaches remain chronically outnumbered by male ones. Murray knows what it feels like to exist in a male-dominated world; for the entirety of her coaching career, she was either the lone women in the room, or was one of only a tiny group of women in a sea full of men. The picture at grassroots level is not much better than in elite sport. Across grassroots sport, male coaches, again, dominate the landscape. Indeed, research released earlier this year which was conducted by YouGov on behalf of UK Sport reported that only 38 percent of sports coaches are female and perhaps most worryingly, this is a 6 percent drop from two years ago. There's a number of reasons why having female coaches is not just important, but vital. Firstly, there's the 'if you can't see it, you can't be it' argument. The presence of female coaches shows young girls that coaching is a viable path for them to choose. We've seen the benefits of young girls starting to realise that it is entirely feasible to dream about becoming an elite athlete - the increased profile of women's sport has made becoming a professional athlete a legitimate career goal for young girls - but the dearth of female coaches means that, all too often, becoming a coach just doesn't seem like a realistic aim for many young girls and women. Secondly, female coaches often bring an entirely different approach to their work in comparison to their male counterparts. Women have a different manner, a different way of tackling challenges and issues, a different way of communicating and, perhaps most importantly, a different (and better) understanding of female athletes. Female athletes are not, in so many ways, the same as male athletes. Yet for male coaches, it is, understandably, extremely hard for them to tweak their approach accordingly because, to put it simply, they often just don't get it. To a lot of male coaches, an athlete is an athlete but female coaches have a greater understanding of how female athletes may need to be treated not more gently, but differently to male athletes. Any progress with the representation of female coaches, particularly at elite level which is the most visible, must be celebrated. The Scotland women's football team had two high-profile and successful women at the helm in the shape of Anna Signeul between 2005 and 2017 and Shelly Kerr between 2017 and 2020. Male coaches then took over until, encouragingly, a female returned to the helm in the shape of Australian national, Melissa Andreatta, whose first game in charge was just over a week ago. There's a similar picture in women's club football too, in which there's a number of female coaches, but plenty of men as well. Individual sport, for some reason, seems to fare even worse when it comes to female coaches at elite level. In Murray's sport of tennis, female coaches are an astonishingly rare sight, particularly in the men's game but they're remarkably uncommon in women's tennis too, and this is mirrored across many other individual sports. There's a number of reasons for this. Elite sport is not a working-from-home job. Working with an elite athlete means you have to go where they go and in the case of most athletes, that means trekking the globe for over half the year. In the case of tennis, it means globetrotting for eleven months of the year. For many women, particularly if they have children, this is just not a workable or an attractive proposition. In contrast, it's far more common, and far more accepted, for men to leave their family at home for months at time while they travel the world as an elite-level coach. And there's the ingrained gender-bias or, in the worst cases, misogyny, which means women remain undervalued and underestimated as coaches. The decades-long dominance of men in the coaching sphere has resulted in women's potential value being totally underestimated, with the assumption being commonplace that men just make better coaches. This is absolutely and definitively not true, but it remains a pervading belief throughout many areas of sport. I'm optimistic that the number of female coaches both at grassroots and at elite level can improve. The progress made by women's sport in recent years is surely an indicator of what can be done. But progress won't happen overnight, nor will it happen without a concerted effort to change things. Murray's programme will, I hope, bear some fruit within Scotland because it's not only female athletes who would benefit from more female coaches, it's sport as a whole. AND ANOTHER THING… The news that Scotland women's rugby team will play at Murrayfield for their Six Nations match against England next year is thrilling news. The Scotland women's team has made impressive progress in recent seasons and playing at Murrayfield, where they're expected to attract a record-breaking crowd, is deserved reward. (Image: MOLLY DARLINGTON/ GETTY IMAGES) While the current home to the women's national team, Hive Stadium, has been an excellent venue, there's indisputably something different about playing at the national stadium, and it gives the women's game the extra kudos that comes with playing at the sport's national stadium. This is a significant step forward for women's rugby in Scotland, and now it's in the players hands to make the most of it with a good perforce against England next April.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Why are female coaches still an endangered species?
The coaching world is well and truly dominated by men. Yes, there's pockets in which female coaches are more commonplace - invariably it's within women's sport - but on the whole, coaching remains a man's game. The need for more female coaches was brought into the spotlight this week with the launch of Judy Murray's 'Learn to Lead' initiative, which aims to 'equip and empower young girls to become Scotland's next generation of sporting leaders'. Murray's goal is not only to encourage more females into coaching - she ultimately wants to see more women in non-athlete roles across the board including fitness trainers, physios, management and in the boardroom - and she's right in the assertion that women are outnumbered in pretty much every area of sport, but it's within the coaching sphere that the disparity between male coaches and female coaches is so clearly apparent. Judy Murray is a huge supporter of increasing the number of female coaches in sport (Image: Connor Mollison) If we take elite sport first, and specifically elite men's sport, then female coaches are like black rhinos in that they're such an endangered species that they're almost impossibly hard to spot. The situation is better in women's elite sport with female coaches more commonplace. But despite having a greater presence in women's sport, female coaches remain chronically outnumbered by male ones. Murray knows what it feels like to exist in a male-dominated world; for the entirety of her coaching career, she was either the lone women in the room, or was one of only a tiny group of women in a sea full of men. The picture at grassroots level is not much better than in elite sport. Across grassroots sport, male coaches, again, dominate the landscape. Indeed, research released earlier this year which was conducted by YouGov on behalf of UK Sport reported that only 38 percent of sports coaches are female and perhaps most worryingly, this is a 6 percent drop from two years ago. There's a number of reasons why having female coaches is not just important, but vital. Firstly, there's the 'if you can't see it, you can't be it' argument. The presence of female coaches shows young girls that coaching is a viable path for them to choose. We've seen the benefits of young girls starting to realise that it is entirely feasible to dream about becoming an elite athlete - the increased profile of women's sport has made becoming a professional athlete a legitimate career goal for young girls - but the dearth of female coaches means that, all too often, becoming a coach just doesn't seem like a realistic aim for many young girls and women. Secondly, female coaches often bring an entirely different approach to their work in comparison to their male counterparts. Women have a different manner, a different way of tackling challenges and issues, a different way of communicating and, perhaps most importantly, a different (and better) understanding of female athletes. Female athletes are not, in so many ways, the same as male athletes. Yet for male coaches, it is, understandably, extremely hard for them to tweak their approach accordingly because, to put it simply, they often just don't get it. To a lot of male coaches, an athlete is an athlete but female coaches have a greater understanding of how female athletes may need to be treated not more gently, but differently to male athletes. Any progress with the representation of female coaches, particularly at elite level which is the most visible, must be celebrated. The Scotland women's football team had two high-profile and successful women at the helm in the shape of Anna Signeul between 2005 and 2017 and Shelly Kerr between 2017 and 2020. Male coaches then took over until, encouragingly, a female returned to the helm in the shape of Australian national, Melissa Andreatta, whose first game in charge was just over a week ago. There's a similar picture in women's club football too, in which there's a number of female coaches, but plenty of men as well. Individual sport, for some reason, seems to fare even worse when it comes to female coaches at elite level. In Murray's sport of tennis, female coaches are an astonishingly rare sight, particularly in the men's game but they're remarkably uncommon in women's tennis too, and this is mirrored across many other individual sports. There's a number of reasons for this. Elite sport is not a working-from-home job. Working with an elite athlete means you have to go where they go and in the case of most athletes, that means trekking the globe for over half the year. In the case of tennis, it means globetrotting for eleven months of the year. For many women, particularly if they have children, this is just not a workable or an attractive proposition. In contrast, it's far more common, and far more accepted, for men to leave their family at home for months at time while they travel the world as an elite-level coach. And there's the ingrained gender-bias or, in the worst cases, misogyny, which means women remain undervalued and underestimated as coaches. The decades-long dominance of men in the coaching sphere has resulted in women's potential value being totally underestimated, with the assumption being commonplace that men just make better coaches. This is absolutely and definitively not true, but it remains a pervading belief throughout many areas of sport. I'm optimistic that the number of female coaches both at grassroots and at elite level can improve. The progress made by women's sport in recent years is surely an indicator of what can be done. But progress won't happen overnight, nor will it happen without a concerted effort to change things. Murray's programme will, I hope, bear some fruit within Scotland because it's not only female athletes who would benefit from more female coaches, it's sport as a whole. AND ANOTHER THING… The news that Scotland women's rugby team will play at Murrayfield for their Six Nations match against England next year is thrilling news. The Scotland women's team has made impressive progress in recent seasons and playing at Murrayfield, where they're expected to attract a record-breaking crowd, is deserved reward. (Image: MOLLY DARLINGTON/ GETTY IMAGES) While the current home to the women's national team, Hive Stadium, has been an excellent venue, there's indisputably something different about playing at the national stadium, and it gives the women's game the extra kudos that comes with playing at the sport's national stadium. This is a significant step forward for women's rugby in Scotland, and now it's in the players hands to make the most of it with a good perforce against England next April.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Sport
- Telegraph
UK Sport demands answers in British rowing's rape scandal
UK Sport, the Olympic funding body, has made urgent contact with British Rowing following 'deeply concerning' allegations at Britain's most prestigious rowing club. Leander Club, which supplied more than half of Team GB's rowers at the Paris Olympics, has been accused of failing to properly investigate allegations of rape and harassment. Telegraph Sport has learnt of three separate incidents involving male rowers who allegedly raped female squad members at the esteemed Henley-based club over the past five years. Concerns from female squad members – which were supported by more than a dozen of the men's rowing team – that sexual assault allegations were not being taken seriously are said to have been repeatedly ignored or dismissed by the Leander committee. The male rowers have denied the rape allegations. British Rowing received around £26 million of public money at the Paris Olympic and paralympic cycle, an investment that has since been upped to more than £28 million ahead of the Los Angeles Games in 2028. UK Sport have previously instigated investigations following welfare concerns at governing bodies which include British Cycling and British Gymnastic. Following the Leander allegations, UK Sport said: 'Our thoughts are with those affected by the allegations which have recently been reported, and we take matters of integrity and safeguarding extremely seriously. 'We encourage any member of staff or athlete on Olympic and Paralympic performance programmes to report allegations of unacceptable behaviour to Sport Integrity, the confidential reporting line. In light of these deeply concerning allegations, we are in contact with British Rowing.' In response to Telegraph Sport's investigation, Leander said: 'Leander Club takes seriously all issues relating to the safeguarding of our athletes. We have strict procedures in place to carefully examine any formal complaints and regularly review our club disciplinary processes to ensure they are fit for purpose, treating our athletes fairly and with respect. 'In addition to an updated code of conduct, we have partnered with a specialist external provider to ensure members of the club know without doubt the standards we expect and the ways to highlight any individual misconduct. When issues are raised, we will continue to take immediate action where necessary to protect the welfare of our athletes.' A British Rowing spokesperson said: 'We are not able to comment on individual safeguarding concerns and processes conducted at clubs owing to their confidential nature. 'What we are able to say categorically is that the safety of people taking part in our sport is the very first item of importance on our agenda. We investigate anything reported to us fully and comprehensively, as you would expect and as it is our remit to do. This would have been the case if sufficient information had been raised with us to conduct an investigation in respect of the raised allegations.'
North Wales Live
5 days ago
- Business
- North Wales Live
Britain's leading athletes urge government to back London 2029 World Championships bid
The window to host one of the world's biggest sporting events could slam shut unless the government seizes the opportunity to invest, more than 100 of Britain's most celebrated athletes have warned. In a powerful open letter to the Prime Minister, Olympic champions, global medallists and rising stars have called on the government to back the bid to host the 2029 World Athletics Championships at the London Stadium with £45 million of funding. Joining the list of supporters are Sir Mo Farah, Keely Hodgkinson, Dame Kelly Holmes, Jonathan Edwards, Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Paula Radcliffe, Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Dina Asher-Smith, and Daley Thompson - a cross-generational group of sporting legends united in their belief that this is a rare opportunity to inspire the nation, foster unity, and create a lasting legacy. The involvement of the athletes lends additional support to the London 2029 campaign, spearheaded by Athletic Ventures - a collaboration between UK Athletics, London Marathon Events, and the Great Run Company. 'This is the moment to deliver something extraordinary,' said Hugh Brasher, event director of the London Marathon and co-founder of Athletic Ventures. 'London 2029 is not a risk; it's about return on investment for the UK. Generations of athletes know the inspirational power of a home Championships but this is about more than medals. It's a vision for what this country can achieve. 'With government support in 2028, we will deliver the greatest World Championships yet: commercially robust, community powered, and globally resonant. It is set to deliver more than £400 million in economic and community impact across the UK. The time to act is now.' The 2029 bid process is due to commence this summer, with organisers urging ministers to commit in the coming weeks to secure the Championships for the UK. Great Britain won ten athletics medals at last year's Paris Olympics, their best return in four decades. London's Diamond League meeting is established as the biggest in the world, selling out in record time last week, while Birmingham will host next year's European Championships. And to underline the sport's grassroots appeal, a record-breaking 1.1 million people have applied to run in next year's London Marathon. Outgoing UK Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger recently admitted frustration at the lack of major sports events coming to the UK, which had been a legacy ambition of staging the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Earlier this year, it was confirmed that the men's and women's Tour de France races will both begin in Britain in 2027, while in football, the UK and Ireland are staging the 2028 men's European Championship. "When it comes to 'mega-events', after 2028 we've got nothing secure," she said. Sport has worked hard to protect its government funding, despite warnings from the Institute for Fiscal Studies that cuts are inevitable for 'unprotected' areas – those outside the NHS, defence and schools. And UK Sport have already secured a record £330m in government and National Lottery funding to support Olympic and Paralympic athletes through to the Los Angeles Games in 2028. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has made no secret of his ambition to make his city the world's foremost sporting capital, with a successful 2029 event potentially crucial to his ambition to bring the Olympics back. London held the World Championships for the first time in 2017 and the event is still considered the gold standard, while it was also a huge commercial success with over 700,000 tickets sold. 'This is a bid rooted in credibility and ambition,' said Jack Buckner, UK Athletics chief executive and co-founder of Athletic Ventures. 'We know what home support can achieve and when our greatest athletes from past and present are unified with one message, their call should not be ignored. 'With London 2029, we have the chance to deliver a World Championships that lifts the nation, inspires the next generation, and showcases Britain at its very best. We're ready. Now we need the Government to stand with us.'
