UK Sport’s female coaches leadership programme consist of 28 coaches from 15 sports coming together as part of a plan to more than double representation in the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community by Paris 2024.
Eight coaches high performance coaches, Jane Figueiredo (diving) and Claire Morrison (boccia), Paula Dunn (para athletics), Kate Howey (judo), Mel Marshall (swimming), Bex Milnes (para triathlon) and Tracy Whittaker-Smith (trampolining) as coach leaders while Karen Brown, who spent over 15 years as a coach for Great Britain Hockey and England Hockey, will act as a mentor throughout.
These highly-respected coaches will lead a six-month programme for 20 of the most promising coaches in the UK, all of whom have been identified as having the potential to coach at the summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic Games from Paris 2024 and beyond.
The 20 participating coaches will be offered key support and development opportunities, including times to observe an assigned coach leader in their environment. The programme will focus on three key areas – leadership, environment and transition – all of which are fundamental to the coaching development journey. The coach leaders will support the 20 participating coaches to navigate this journey within the context of high performance. The 20 coaches and their groupings are:
• Paula Dunn: Nicola Benavente (rowing), Hannah Brown (canoeing) Faye Dale (goalball)
• Jane Figueiredo: Christine Harrison-Bloomfield (athletics), Lisa Letchford (hockey)
• Kate Howey: Jenny Leeming (diving), Shani Palmer (athletics), Jo Ryding (alpine skiing)
• Mel Marshall: Leah Crane (climbing), Monica Greenwood (cycling), Sarah Kelleher (hockey), Coral Nourrice (athletics)
• Bex Milnes: Danielle Brayson (swimming), Naomi Johnston (cycling)
• Claire Morrison: Katie Arup (fencing), Lysa Jones (golf), Becky Ashworth (goalball)
• Tracy Whittaker-Smith: Emma Trott (cycling), Laura Turner-Alleyne (athletics), Christy Mackinnon (alpine skiing)
• Karen Brown will act as a mentor to all
Sally Munday, CEO at UK Sport, said: “It is really exciting to see such a large number of coaches from right across our high-performance community involved in this programme. We have an amazing group of coach leaders, who are the trailblazers and the people doing it now, and the opportunity for the 19 promising coaches to learn from them – as well as each other – is going to be incredible.
“UK Sport is determined to see greater diversity across the high-performance community. I believe that each of the participants will become role models for the next generation of coaches and will truly enable us to more than double representation by Paris 2024 and beyond.
“I want to be able to reflect back that this was a turning point of truly making our workforce, in particular our coaching workforce, in the high-performance community far more diverse and a lot more equal from a gender perspective. Thanks to The National Lottery and their players who enable the funding all areas of Olympic and Paralympic sport.”