Igniting Networks

SASI, Hockey Australia and Diving Australia

Igniting Networks and Connections That Impact

Across the Australian High Performance sporting system, various sports and institutes are igniting small, targeted networks for female coaches. With minimal financial investment, these networks have been able to foster connection, offer critical support and are helping drive long term impact for women in coaching.

Diving Australia, Hockey Australia and the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) are leading the way, having each created networks that offer a platform for female coaches to share their experiences, receive mentorship and resources, all in a safe, collaborative environment. The success of these networks highlights the importance of community and relationship-building for female coaches, at all levels of the coaching pipeline.

Creating a One-Team Support Network 

Vyninka Arlow, Diving Australia’s National Pathway Coach, created the Mentoring GALS Gang after identifying a need for female coaches to have a shared space to ask questions and voice their experiences. The group came about after Arlow spoke with two female coaches during a trip to Sydney for state championships.

Arlow asked the coaches she met with, “Who do you guys have to talk to?” It was this question that sparked the idea for the group.

The Mentoring GALS Gang started as a WhatsApp group and has since grown into weekly catch-ups, deep-dives on technical discussion and analysis, as well as guest speakers offering the group fresh perspectives and ideas.

The main objective of the group is to share knowledge and work towards a one-team support network.

“We want to make Diving Australia better and we want to feel like we’re doing that together. We’re not in competition with each other. We can work together to make things better,” Arlow said.

Already, the group has fostered a greater sense of community within the sport. “They all know each other better now. So when we see each other on pool deck, you already feel close.” Arlow believes this sense of community is particularly important for retaining new coaches entering the sport. “They’re going to be more likely to come to you with problems or questions,” she explained.

The network gives coaches the confidence to ask questions in a community that understands their unique challenges. “We’re trying to help them know that they can ask any question and that we’re all there to support each other.”

Building Relationships Through Networks 

Mark Hager, the National Women’s Athlete Pathway Coach at Hockey Australia, saw a similar need for connection. “The coaches would go to Nationals and we’d notice the lack of connection with each other,” Hager said.

Hager created the network to build stronger relationships among coaches in the sport. The group was initially targeted at coaches in elite roles but later expanded to include club and state-level coaches.

“We set it up basically to try and get a few more connections and say ‘Hey, there’s more of us out there that we can talk to’,” Hager said.

The group focuses on both tactical development and personal growth opportunities for coaches. Guest speakers are brought in to share insights and technical analysis sessions are a regular and key part of the program.

Ilene Carr is one of many coaches who have been impacted by the group. “The group is spread right around the country and it’s a really great opportunity to establish those connections, but also learn from that group of women,” Carr said.

The group has also enabled Carr to gain new perspectives through sessions that look beyond Hockey. “There’s an opportunity to not just talk about hockey, but other sports and other topics for women in sport.”

“Mark’s always looking for or challenging the group around what is it you want to know. What are the gaps in your learning? So, this is a great way of being able to say to Mark, ‘Look, I don’t know enough about this.’ You get to tap into resources that you can’t normally access.”

The network is having an incredible impact by creating lasting relationships between coaches in the sport.

“You see them talking at National Championships now or they’ll come to me and say ‘hi’,” Hager said. “It’s helped them recognise that they’re not alone. They have other people they can reach out to within the system.”

Tapping Into Existing Networks 

SASI’s network started with an informal coffee-catch-up group, organised by Rowing coach, Christine MacLaren. Keren Faulkner, then the Performance Services Manager at SASI and now the Director, saw the success of the group and helped build it into the Women Coach and Leaders Network.

“What they were doing was a terrific job of just connecting, sharing their ideas and stories, and just giving each other some encouragement and confidence. So, I realised that would be great to do on a bigger scale at SASI and bring in some other sports,” Faulkner said.

Part of Faulkner’s decision to champion the group came after a head coach role was advertised at SASI and received no female applicants. After speaking with coaches, Faulkner found that many of them didn’t believe they would be suitable for the role or be considered if they did apply.

“That made me think we’ve got to do something about this. One of the reasons we wanted to build the group into something bigger was that I realised there was a big gap,” Faulkner said. “I felt like the biggest problem was confidence, encouragement, network and recognition of the people that are already there.”

The network that started with coffee-catch-ups has grown into more formal sessions and uses the power of storytelling to connect the group and start important conversations. Guest speakers regularly attend, including the Governor of South Australia, Her Excellency Frances Adamson, Tania Obst, the Thunderbirds netball coach and Olympic gold medallist, Juliet Haslam.

Like the groups started by Hockey and Diving, the SASI network has led to a greater sense of community and collaboration among members.

“What we have seen is those people connect in really meaningful ways when they need some help. For example, when they’re going for a job interview or when they come up against a problem, there are more people to ask for advice,” Faulkner said.

The group also aims to take what they’ve learned into new environments. “If there’s a thread or a theme during the meeting which feels important to the group, we’ll try and capture and understand what that is,” said Mick Nelson, the AIS High Performance Coach Development Lead who oversees the running of the group. “We’re endeavouring to capture the essence of the message or story that we heard and then see if we can take that into ten or fifteen different environments.”

At one meeting, the topic of children in high performance sport came up. The group then went back to their own sport or club to start the conversation, “Do we have a family friendly environment?”

SASI’s approach shows that the impact of these networks can extend far beyond the immediate members of the group.

A Vision for the Future 

The success of these networks highlights the impact of creating spaces for coaches to collaborate, share learnings and build relationships. But their impact will continue to evolve and grow.

Nelson sees the SASI Coach Connect group sparking smaller, coach specific groups, creating more opportunities for coaches to benefit from networks.

Hager hopes to link Hockey’s female coaches to their international peers. “I’d like to think that we can take it worldwide and we can tap into other female programs around the world and other female coaches within hockey and get their experiences,” Hager said.

Arlow has a similar goal of seeing the Mentoring GALS Gang include international networking opportunities. While Arlow was overseas earlier this year for the World Championships, another member of the group coached her squad while she was away. Arlow hopes to see more coach exchange opportunities like this happen as a result of the trust being built amongst the group. “I think that learning is worth its weight in gold, getting to know each other better and growing in confidence through that,” Arlow said. Eventually, she hopes to see an overseas coach swap happen.

The key takeaway for other organisations looking to create their own networks? Keep the group targeted and listen to members.  “Find out what they really want to hear and what they really want to be part of,” Hager said.

“I think it doesn’t need to get too big. It needs to be the right amount of people so that you do have space to speak,” Arlow said. Faulkner notes that smaller, targeted groups prevent these networks from losing their impact.

These small, targeted networks are driving real change for women in coaching through the connections they ignite.

As Carr, the member of Hockey’s network says, “These groups, where they [coaches] can learn off one another and know they can share their experiences and their challenges and work through them, assists in keeping women within the coaching sphere and maintaining their connection to the sport.”