On Saturday 23rd of April, our Year 1 and Year 2 female coaches from the HP Coaching Pathway met in Dublin for the first time since the programme began. With the restrictions of Covid-19, this has been the first chance for all the coaches to gather together in person. From 10am- 4pm the Year 2 coaches had their final workshop session with Jo Hopkins in a series of workshops aimed at giving them the leadership skills they need to move forward on their coaching journey.
The coaches met with other coaches from Triathlon Ireland, Cycling Ireland, Athletics Ireland and Boxing Ireland. Lochlann Walsh (OFI Gender Commission Chair) greeted and chatted with coaches. Nora Stapleton (Women in Sport lead, Sport Ireland) also addressed all coaches.
In the evening, the Year 1 coaches joined us and all coaches enjoyed socialising over a dinner and guest speaker Stephen Maguire (Head of High Performance, Sport Ireland) spoke in conversation with Jo Hopkins reflecting on some experiences of his athletics coaching career which were significant learnings for the coaches. A Q&A was also held with Stephen.
Many thanks to Stephen for his time and to Jo Hopkins and Eliza Downey for facilitating. Claire Lambe was a key figure in organising this event. Applications for next year’s programme will begin this summer.
