{"id":453485,"date":"2020-11-12T02:20:46","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T09:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=453485"},"modified":"2020-11-12T05:38:51","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:38:51","slug":"mel-marshall-selected-to-uk-sport-programme-aiming-to-increase-female-coach-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mel-marshall-selected-to-uk-sport-programme-aiming-to-increase-female-coach-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"Mel Marshall Selected To UK Sport Programme Aiming To Increase Female Coach Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mel Marshall<\/strong> – the woman who guided Adam Peaty<\/strong> to Olympic gold – is one of six women heading a UK Sport leadership initiative that plans to more than double the number of female coaches across Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic programmes by Paris 2024.<\/p>\n

Women hold just 10% of coaching positions across those programmes at present but the new leadership initiative will involve Marshall among six top female UK coaches providing key support and mentoring for the next generation of elite coaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall will join\u00a0Paula Dunn<\/strong> (para athletics), Kate Howey<\/strong> (judo), Bex Milnes<\/strong> (para triathlon) and Tracy Whittaker-Smith<\/strong> (trampolining) in allowing other female coaches to observe them in their high-performance environment w<\/span>hile Karen Brown<\/strong>, who spent over 15 years as a coach for Great Britain Hockey and England Hockey, will act as a mentor throughout the programme.<\/span><\/p>\n

UK Sport is working with performance directors, coach developers and talent pathway managers within the high-performance community, as well as UK Coaching, to nominate female coaches who have potential to coach at the Olympic and Paralympic Games at Paris 2024 and beyond. <\/span><\/p>\n

The nomination process will close shortly and coaches will be finalised by the end of the year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The leadership programme forms part of UK Sport\u2019s long-term plan to address the current under-representation of female coaches at all levels of the talent pathway within the high-performance community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"melaniemarshall\"

Melanie Marshall – Photo Courtesy: Action Woman Twitter<\/p><\/div>\n

Significantly increasing the number of female coaches available for Paris 2024 is the first target of this long-term plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

Marshall is perfectly-placed to pass on her wisdom having guided Peaty to Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth titles.<\/p>\n

Luke Greenbank<\/strong> – who won 200 backstroke bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju – is also coached by Marshall at Loughborough National Training Centre.<\/p>\n

She said:<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s important that people see what is possible and I am honoured to be part of this project with UK Sport and with a group of extremely successful female coaches from across the Olympic and Paralympic environment. <\/span><\/p>\n

“We have to talk about opportunities for women in high-performance coaching and we shouldn\u2019t be afraid to have those conversations, talk about our ambitions and challenge those not supporting them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUK Sport are leading the way on this through their ambition and I am extremely excited to be a part of the project and am looking forward to sharing my knowledge and experiences with up-and-coming coaches as well as everyone else involved.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CEO at UK Sport Sally Munday<\/strong> added:<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>UK Sport is determined to see greater diversity across the high-performance community and this programme will focus on seeing more women at the top end of high performance. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Coaches, alongside athletes, are at the heart of our high-performance community and we firmly believe that a more diverse cohort of highly-skilled coaches will help more of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes realise their potential.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere are currently far too few female coaches operating at the highest level of performance and we are committed to addressing this reality and, working with our stakeholders, driving the change we want to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

“The programme arises from UK Sport\u2019s People Development Team, working in partnership with sports and stakeholders to address diversity and inclusion ambitions, removing barriers and introducing bespoke programmes, with gender the first characteristic and other initiatives to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

“At present, approximately only 10% of coaching positions within the high-performance community in the UK are held by women. <\/span><\/p>\n

“The first target of UK Sport\u2019s long-term plan is to ensure that by the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024, the number of female coaches available to Team GB and ParalympicsGB has more than doubled to 25%.<\/span><\/p>\n

“<\/span>Working with key stakeholders, UK Sport has a responsibility to play a part in closing gender gaps by focusing on diversifying the high-performance coaching community and increasing opportunities for female coaches to take up senior and leadership roles.”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A piece we published in September that offers an insight into Marshall’s coaching approach<\/p>\n

Mel Marshall On Coaching Adam Peaty and Preparing Athletes For the Biggest Platform of all<\/h2>\n

Mel Marshall<\/strong>\u00a0says that creating independent athletes is paramount for a coach if they are to succeed on the biggest stage of all.<\/p>\n

Marshall has coached\u00a0Adam Peaty<\/strong>\u00a0to Olympic, world, European and Commonwealth gold with the Briton having taken the 100m breaststroke into new waters.<\/p>\n

The double Olympian is also coach to\u00a0Luke Greenbank<\/strong>\u00a0who took 200m backstroke bronze at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju where he went on to swim the lead-off as Great Britain won the men\u2019s 4x100m medley relay.<\/p>\n

\n

\"GBRrio2016melmarshalladampeaty\"<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy: Mel Marshall and Adam Peaty<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For Marshall the work done in the weeks, months and years before an event will mean that an athlete is physically and mentally prepared for what lies ahead.<\/p>\n

In a film for Team England, Marshall said:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the one thing that needs to be remembered is, with any multi-sport event, there\u2019s the preparation coach and there\u2019s the arena coach, and I think if you\u2019re doing a good job as a coach \u2013 a preparation coach \u2013 then your athletes should arrive at these events responsible, independent, confident and capable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if you\u00a0 mollycoddle athletes and if you prepare the road for the athletes, rather than prepare the athlete for the road, they will get very lost very quickly and things will get very stressful in that environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s about making independent athletes, and then when you turn into arena coach mode, when you\u2019re actually in the environment with the athlete it\u2019s your job to quieten down the noise and flatten the waves, it\u2019s your job to bring it back to what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere can be 5,000 people watching, 10,000 people watching, a large amount of social media following, your mum and dad in the crowd, but it\u2019s about bringing it back down to the small things, which is your event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe court is the same size, the pool is the same size, you\u2019ve been doing it since you were 10 years of age, and really making sure that athletes know that it\u2019s the same job, that it\u2019s the same business that they\u2019ve been doing every single day since they were a young kid.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n