In this, our first Great Conversation, we are really pleased to kick start things with Kate Offord, Head Coach at Manchester Tri Club, founder of Smiling Tri Coach and a British Triathlon Coach Educator.
Listen to the podcast of our fourteen minute opener about women in coaching.
And use the Comments box below to engage with us in the Conversation, sharing your own reflections, ideas and experiences.
If you'd like a prompt, here are some of the issues that struck me, of relevance to men as well as women and on which it would be great to have members’ reflections and inputs:
the key role of supportive figures in Kate’s journey (notably her Mum and the former Head of Man Tri):
have you been encouraged, supported, nurtured in your path?
do you play a similar role for others, particular up and coming women?
the importance of being inspired by a bigger cause, Kate describing herself as part of the Olympic legacy:
has #thisgirlcan or other movements had a similar energising effect for you and those you coach?
are there other ways you’ve seen being a part of bigger movements has helped bring people who might have been reticent or shy to get involved?
Kate’s strategies for finding her own voice and physical presence in an environment where “alpha male” models of behaviour dominate:
what other strategies and approaches do you see helping particularly women take up the coaching space and find their voice?
do you find yourself needing to adopt different approaches and styles when coaching all male, all female and mixed groups?
addressing gender imbalances, as in Kate recently delivering a course to fourteen men and only two women, though more positively, as a team of two women tutors:
what’s your experience of the gender balance on courses, tutoring, key positions in clubs – wherever it counts?
in your clubs have there been special efforts made to break a male mould?
Please share your reflections on any of these, or of course anything else that strikes you from the conversation, by using the comment box below. Kate will also be contributing to the developing Conversation.