Swimming coaches ‘privileged’ to be selected for Women’s Coaching Programme

Two swimming coaches have been selected for a prestigious UK Coaching programme which offers support to female coaches.

Putteridge SC’s Lesley Batson and Guildford City SC’s Claudia Clements have been named on the Women’s Coaching Programme, which runs from December 2021 through to March 2022.

They feature in a list of 20 coaches in total, from across 13 different sports, with diving’s Georgia Davenport and Mollie James also named.

The programme offers support to those aspiring to progress within their sport performance pathway and focuses on:

• Increased self-awareness
• Broader understanding of talent development environments
• Enhanced coach-athlete interactions
• Developing reflective practice
• Developing personal coaching behaviours.

Larger community and support network

Batson revealed that she felt ‘privileged’ to be part of the programme and of the wider support network it offers.

She said: “I feel extremely privileged to have been selected to participate in the UK Coaching Women’s Coaching Programme.

“It gives me a sense of being part of a larger community and support network with a huge pool of resources.

“Those selected are from fantastic sports that all have such different pressures and challenges, so it’s an opportunity to learn from others’ insights and perspectives.

“The relevance of the course content works across all sport performance pathways, in particular within my sport, swimming. Developing ‘the person’ that is, as a coach as well as the athlete.”

Incredible network of female coaches

Clements admitted she has been working towards improving her confidence within her coaching and is looking forward to working with other coaches.

“I am really excited to be part of such a great programme along with an incredible network of female coaches,” she added.

“The last few years for me have been about building confidence within my coaching abilities.

“I hope to learn more about increasing awareness and developing reflective practice, both of which are going to be so valuable to my own development plan and help me become the most confident coach I can be.”

The programme will use a series of workshops which will allow the coaches to explore the type of coach they want to be, the individuals they work with, the environment they create and their coaching practice.