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Dear Coach

Real voices. Real stories. Real impact.

Dear Coach is a four-part video series designed to help coaches better understand the needs of women and girls in community sport. Through the eyes of families, you'll hear how sport has shaped their lives and how coaches have the power to shape that experience for better or worse.

This hub brings it all together:

  • Watch the series: each video explores a different theme.
  • Use the summary and action learning guides: turn insights into action with practical tools and reflection prompts.

Whether you're just getting started or ready to evolve your coaching, this is your go-to space for learning, reflecting and creating environments where every participant can feel seen, safe, and supported.

Dear Coach: Help me feel I can

Confidence is often the difference between staying in sport or walking away. In this episode, women and girls share what helps them feel capable and what makes them doubt themselves.

Whether it’s the way feedback is given, who gets encouraged, or how success is defined, coaches have a direct influence on whether participants believe they can do it. Because before someone excels, they have to believe they belong.

  • Watch the video
  • Read the summary guide for insights and statistics
  • Use the action learning to build confidence in your participants

Dear Coach: Help me play my way

There’s no single way to play and there shouldn’t be. This episode explores how women and girls want to engage in sport on their own terms, in ways that feel fun, challenging, meaningful and social (not just competitive).

When coaches create flexible, responsive environments that value individual motivation, more women and girls can find their place in sport and stay in it longer.

  • Watch the video
  • Read the summary guide for deeper understanding and evidence
  • Use the action learning to adapt your coaching for different needs

Dear Coach: Help me see myself in sport

Representation matters. In this episode, participants reflect on what it feels like to be the “only one,” to not see others like them, or to feel like they don’t fit the mould of a typical athlete.

From who we celebrate, to what we normalise, coaches can help women and girls see that sport is for them — not just through words, but through actions that make inclusion real.

  • Watch the video
  • Read the summary guide for insights on visibility and belonging
  • Use the action learning to create a more inclusive coaching environment

Dear Coach: Help me see value

Sport is more than exercise it’s also about connection, confidence, identity and joy. This episode follows four mothers who reflect on their own journeys in sport and what helped or hindered their long-term relationship with it.

Their stories show that coaches have a lasting influence, shaping how women, girls and the people around them see the value of sport across a lifetime.

  • Watch the video
  • Read the summary guide for generational insights and data
  • Use the action learning to deepen the impact of your coaching

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