Ottawa (November 15, 2017) – The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAAWS) and the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC) have announced the release of the Female Coach Mentorship Model: a free, turnkey tool designed to increase retention and advancement of female coaches.
Now available on the CAC’s website for free download, the Female Coach Mentorship Model consists of three guides: a sport administrator's guide, a mentor guide, and a mentee guide. Together, these resources offer a guided approach to establishing effective and sustainable mentor-mentee relationships.
“Female coaches bring unique and significant value to the sport system at all levels, but often face complex barriers when trying to advance in their coaching careers,” says Allison Sandmeyer-Graves, CAAWS CEO. “This mentorship model is a pragmatic and proven tool that any sport can use to encourage and support female coaches as crucial leaders within their sport and the Canadian sport system as a whole.”
Four National Sport Organizations piloted the model for a full year, including Canada Basketball, Tennis Canada, Wrestling Canada, and Hockey Canada. In the University of Toronto’s evaluation of the pilot, mentor and mentee coaches reported an array of positive outcomes, such as clear perceived personal and professional growth and tangible advancement towards coaching goals.
“The process of mentorship supports the coach and creates the opportunity for professional development while also providing an atmosphere of support, which is often not currently available to female coaches,” says Lorraine Lafrenière, CEO of the Coaching Association of Canada. “So when the pilot project showed such encouraging outcomes, we knew that opening it up to the Canadian sport community would bring even more supportive opportunities and experiences to female coaches.”
CAAWS and the CAC recently shared information about the model in a pre-conference workshop at the 2017 Petro-Canada Sport Leadership sportif conference in Calgary. The mentorship model will also be a feature topic at the CAAWS Lunch & Learn on November 28th, in Ottawa. Please click here for more information or to register.
CAAWS and the CAC are grateful to the project’s Advisory Committee, the University of Toronto, Canada Basketball, Tennis Canada, Wrestling Canada, and Hockey Canada for their collaboration in developing and testing this model. The Female Coach Mentorship Model was made possible with funding from Status of Women Canada.
For more information on the Female Coach Mentorship Model and to download the guides, CLICK HERE.