Coaching program a great opportunity

By Medicine Hat News on February 21, 2018.

Despite growing participation of girls and women in sport, women make up only 25 per cent of coaches in Canada. Female coaches are very valuable in both male and female sports. Female coaches help create positive group dynamics, help emphasize group collaboration, and demonstrate strong conflict resolution skills. Female coaches also help provide positive role modelling for female athletes and can challenge historical gender stereotypes to influence cultural change.

FAME is presenting its third annual Female Coach Development Mentorship Program. This program was designed with the goal of helping to develop female leaders and coaches in southeastern Alberta by providing hard skills that are readily applicable to their current season, as well as helping to build relationships between coaches.

The Female Coach Development Mentorship Program is taking up to 10 registrants 16 years of age or older to participate in four sessions. All coaching levels, from brand new to seasoned, are welcome to register. This year’s sessions include practice and season planning, planning sport specific dynamic warm ups, travel nutrition, and conflict management. Each session will include a presentation, as well as open and directed discussion. Sessions will be 1 1/2 hours long at Medicine Hat College.

These sessions will also provide the opportunity to connect with and learn from coaches in many different sports. We have had coaches from a broad range of sports over the past couple years, including, but not limited to BMX, karate, sledge hockey, cheerleading, track and field, volleyball, and basketball. Coaching experience has ranged from beginner to provincial to college to international. Coaches from any sport are welcome!

The programming is sponsored by the Alberta Sport Development Centre and is free to participants.

If you are interested, or if you know of someone who might be interested, please contact FAME at famemedicinehat@gmail.com by March 5. This program will run March 19 — May 4.

Dr. Katelyn Westerlund is a chiropractor with the Ridge Spine and Sport Center and a member of the Females in Action Moving and Empowering (FAME) Committee. She can be reached at kwesterlund@ridgespinesport.com.

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