Coach training leaves gaps in addressing girls’ and women’s needs in sport

“There is a systemic failure in the training of coaches for female athletes,” says Ådne Ausland, a researcher at the University of Agder.

Together with colleagues, he conducted a survey of 779 coaches of female athletes in Norway and Sweden. The results reveal a lack of knowledge about issues and needs specific to girls and women. The research is published in the journal Sports Coaching Review and the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching.

“The most striking finding was that the coach’s experience and their own gender make no difference. Female coaches experienced the same skills gap,” says Ausland.

The figures from the survey show that coaches themselves consider topics such as growth and development, puberty and menstruation to be very important. Nevertheless, they lack the confidence to address these issues when working with athletes.

It starts with listening

Some of the consequences of this became apparent when Ausland interviewed eight former Norwegian elite athletes. The women’s stories diverged in two very different directions.

FIDES

FIDES (Female Inclusion and Development in Sport) is a research group at UiA where researchers investigate issues relating to participation, development and performance among women in sports. The group is led by Monica Klungland Torstveit and Bård Erlend Solstad.

Through Ausland’s Ph.D. project, the FIDES Coach Education Programme (CEP), a coaching course has been developed based on the findings discussed in this article.

The course is aimed at coaches of female athletes and aims to build the expertise and foster the trusting relationship that athletes seek.

With support from the International Olympic Committee, the course has been translated into English.

“Half of them described a training routine where talking about a lack of energy or period pain was seen as a sign of weakness. They learned to suppress their body’s signals and suffer in silence. Over time, this led to injuries, wear and tear, and many painful memories from their own careers,” says Ausland.

The other half described completely different experiences. What they had in common was that they had an open and trusting relationship with their coach.

The coaches certainly didn’t need to be doctors or experts. Listening to the athletes’ needs and building the trust that enabled them to speak up was the most important thing of all, says Ausland.

A skewed starting point

Less than 10% of sports research focuses exclusively on girls and women. This has led to a situation in Norwegian clubs and sports teams where the knowledge base is centered on the needs of boys and men.

“Many female athletes feel that they are not being seen or taken seriously in areas that are absolutely fundamental to them,” says Ausland.

For many, this means that the cost of participating becomes higher than they are willing to pay. During their teenage years, a much larger proportion of girls drop out of sports compared with boys.

Three practical steps

Ausland, together with his colleagues Torstveit and Solstad, has set out three pieces of advice for anyone who coaches girls and women:

1. Check how they’re feeling that day first. Make it a regular routine to do a quick check on how they’re feeling before the session starts. Ask, for example, about their energy levels and sleep. When it becomes completely normal to talk about the body’s signals, it becomes safer for the athlete to speak up.
2. Make small, smart adjustments. If the athlete is experiencing period pain or lacks energy, don’t cancel the session, but make small adjustments. This shows that you’re listening, and it builds trust.
3. Show that openness is safe. Many players grit their teeth and hide their pain because they fear that speaking up will cost them their place on the team. Make it absolutely clear that speaking openly about difficult days will not result in less playing time or missed opportunities. Players who feel safe become resilient players.

Who’s behind this story?

Gaby Clark

MA in English, copy editor since 2021 with experience in higher education and health content. Dedicated to trustworthy science news.

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Alexander Pol

PhD nano-engineering from Delft University. Published researcher and journal reviewer. Brings scientific insight to content standards.

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