Keeping talented females within the high performance system will require sports to be creative, England Netball Head Coach Anna Mayes told UK Sport.
“It’s looking at how you can make it work, you don’t want to compromise on the programme, but if you want the right people that are going to have the biggest impact, you have to work hard to keep them in the system and be creative with how you engage them.”
A forum run by UK Sport Chief Executive Liz Nicholl at the World Class Performance Conference in Wembley yesterday (25 Nov) revealed that while 41% of National Lottery funded athletes are female, just 10-15% of coaches and 9% of performance directors* are women.
Liz Nicholl said: “Around 50% of British medals won at the past two Olympic and Paralympic Games have been won by female athletes. As a system we need to look at look at how we retain that talent and encourage those women into coaching and leadership roles when they eventually retire from sport.
“It was heartening to see so many people attend our forum on the challenges facing women in sport at the Conference and passionately debate and share their views. I am determined to keep this high on the agenda and continue to look at what we at UK Sport can do to help.”
Present at the session, Anna Mayes, who has been head coach at England Netball since 2011 and is part of UK Sport’s Elite Programme, explained that this is an issue close to her heart.
“When I have a family, I don’t what that to be the end of my coaching career, because I love my job and I want to continue. I want to learn from people who have made it work, like Paula Dunn in athletics, and sessions like this are great to encourage those conversations.”
This summer Mayes led England to fourth place at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, after losing by just one goal to both the world number one and two teams, Australia and New Zealand.
“When people talk about marginal gains in other sports, that one goal is our equivalent.
“Not winning a medal was agonising, and it still hurts, but looking at our more subjective aims for the tournament, we achieved some of the best results we’ve ever had against those top sides and we have to take great confidence from that.”
Mayes’ number two at Glasgow 2014, former England captain and new mother Karen Atkinson, was supported to bring her six month old baby so she could continue her coaching role.
“Having flexibility in our programme allowed Karen to be as involved as possible, but we acknowledged that she wasn’t going to be at every session.
“We don’t currently have a full structure or system in place, but as a governing body, we need to do that if we’re going to get people in the right positions.”
For now, Mayes is focused on the ultimate goal of winning the 2015 World Cup, as well as upcoming Test Series’ against Malawi and Jamaica.
“I like to think the Commonwealth Games could be a defining moment for us, we have a team that I believe could be world champions, and we’re getting closer.
“It’s about focusing on the right things that are going to have the biggest impact, but making sure the athletes have ownership of that plan. We’re excited.”
UK Sport’s World Class Performance Conference, presented by Sportscover, is at the Wembley Hilton from 24-26 November 2014. The conference brings together coaches, practitioners and leaders from the British high performance sports community to meet, debate and share best practice across key themes influencing athletes’ performances. The theme of this year’s Conference is Focus.
*Relating to World Class Programme sports only.