In January this year, founder of the FCN, Vicky Huyton delivered a workshop to a group of female coaches from England and across Europe who are current or former participants of England Rugby’s Advanced Coaching Programme. The session brought together coaches operating across different levels of the game to explore what it truly takes to progress and thrive in high performance environments.
The workshop began by outlining the evolution and purpose of the FCN, founded in 2014 to provide female coaches with both a platform and a voice. As highlighted in the session introduction, the FCN’s work is built around two core pillars: empowering coaches and changing the systems in which they operate.
Examples of FCN’s on-the-ground impact were shared to demonstrate how meaningful change can be achieved. These included the creation of what is believed to be the first fully paid, full-time internship for a female coach at a Premier League football club, delivered in partnership with Tottenham Hotspur and Nike (2022–23). The project established a paid coaching pathway with structured mentoring and resulted in the intern progressing into senior roles within the women’s game.
The session also explored FCN’s global advocacy work in athletics, including research and policy development aimed at increasing female representation on international championship teams. Currently, the percentage of accredited female coaches at major championships in track and field has remained around 10% for decades. In response, FCN has contributed to research, formed the Women’s International Athletics Coaching Forum, and developed a Team Staff Selection Policy designed to support more transparent and equitable recruitment processes.
Another featured initiative was “Preparation for Paris,” delivered in partnership with WHOOP. The programme supported 52 female coaches from 19 countries and 15 sports in the lead-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Through monthly workshops, performance monitoring and peer connection, the project emphasised an important concept explored in depth during the workshop: coaches must treat themselves as performers.
Three key insights from this work formed the backbone of the session:
1. Coaches must be treated as performers.
Coaching in high performance sport carries significant cognitive and emotional load. Drawing on data and real-world examples, the workshop demonstrated how stress, decision-making and leadership demands mirror those experienced by athletes. Supporting coaches to manage recovery, wellbeing and performance readiness is essential to sustainable success.
2. Fix the system, not the women.
Despite decades of coach development initiatives targeted at women, female representation in high performance coaching remains stubbornly low across many sports. The workshop challenged the prevailing narrative that women simply need more training. Instead, it argued for systemic reform—reviewing policies, recruitment processes, governance structures and cultural norms that may unintentionally create barriers. Addressing the wider sport system, rather than focusing solely on “fixing” individuals, is critical to meaningful progress.
3. Coaching is five-dimensional.
Traditional coach education often focuses primarily on “coaching down” — working with athletes and teams. However, high performance coaching also requires “coaching up” (managing boards and senior leadership), “coaching left” (leading interdisciplinary staff), “coaching right” (engaging media and stakeholders), and managing oneself at the centre. Understanding and preparing for these multiple dimensions is particularly important for women navigating environments that may present additional scrutiny or bias.
The session concluded with a practical framework encouraging coaches to map their PRO: Performance, Relationships and Opportunities. This reflective tool enables coaches to identify development gaps, strengthen networks and strategically position themselves for future roles.
The workshop represents another step in FCN’s mission to both empower individual coaches and influence the systems around them. As the organisation moves into a new era of female coach development, preparations are underway for the launch of a major new project in the coming months. This next phase will introduce a fresh approach to coach development for female coaches, as well as for organisations, teams and federations committed to increasing female representation in high performance sport.