An evaluation of a mentoring programme to support high-performance women coaches

In response to the deficit of women coaches in football, the Football Association have created various initiatives to upskill women coaches to enable women to progress within the coaching community. This chapter provides an evaluation of one of those initiatives—the “Elite Coach Menteeship Programme”—in order to share good practice and lessons learned in relation to establishing and delivering programmes designed to support the career development of high-performance women coaches. It first outlines the menteeship programme, including its purpose and context. Next, the chapter highlights the research evaluation process, encompassing the objectives and methods used to collect data, followed by coaches’ experiences of the programme. Youth Coach Developer involved coaches supporting in-club continuous personal development and mentoring, and providing regional and on-site coach support to professional club coaches. The chapter closes with some recommendations and implications for coaches, other sports organisations, and NGBs to effectively develop diversity and inclusion initiatives and improve gender equity.

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