Women’s mentor program

Applications are now closed for the ASC Women's Mentor Program for community coaches and officials who identify as women. During this program, coaches and officials will be supported by the ASC team to develop and implement mentor programs, and drive gender equity and positive sport experiences for women and girls within their club or organisation.

The program provides an immersive experience focusing on equity, inclusion and cultural safety to provide greater access to sport. It’s about enabling, empowering and supporting women mentors, with the tools to influence positive change and navigate change management in their clubs or organisation.

All program participants will be required to nominate either a sponsor or peer support from their club or organisation. The peer support or sponsor will attend a series of virtual workshops to define and explore their role in driving gender equity.

Sponsor or peer support role

Peer support

• A peer support or ally may be a fellow coach, committee member, administrator, staff member or volunteer who works with you at your club or organisation.
• A peer support ensures you haven an advocate within your club or organisation as you work to drive change and increase gender equity.

Sponsor

• A sponsor may be your manager or head coach, a committee member or a fellow staff member.
• A sponsor provides the benefits of a peer, with the additional commitment to providing you and your mentees opportunities to develop and progress. Opportunities may include:
  • shadow or assistant coaching sessions with other coaches
  • professional development
  • networking
  • providing a reference for job applications
  • other activities that specifically target your career progression or that of your mentees.

What to expect

The program will take place in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

Program participants will attend 3 in-person sessions over a 5-month period consisting of 2 days each (6 workshop days total). In between these sessions, mentors will put their learning into practice, mentoring women and girls into coaching or officiating roles. Between the in-person sessions, participants will attend virtual check-in and learning sessions.

The following topics will be explored during the in-person sessions:

• Modern mentoring
  • Understanding yourself and how you interact
  • Understanding and connecting with others
  • Developmental coaching conversations
  • Mentor program design.
• Content for your mentor program
  • The modern approach to coaching and officiating
  • Adapting coaching and officiating practices to modern societal expectations
  • Active inclusion and engagement with diverse communities
  • Coaching and officiating women and girls in sport.
• Leading change and influencing others
  • Navigating and managing change
  • Influencing positive change within your club or organisation
  • Facilitation skills.

Diversity of applicants

The ASC welcomes applicants who reflect the diversity of the Australian population and encourages individuals who identify as women from the following backgrounds to apply:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
• culturally and linguistically diverse
• LGBTIQ+
• people with a disability.

ASC also welcomes applicants with a diversity of experience. While some coaching or officiating experience is essential, applicants are asked to highlight other experience relevant to the mentor program, such as teaching experience, other roles in sport (as a coach or official, committee member, administrator etc), or participation in other mentor programs.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this program, applicants will need to:

• identify as a woman. There are no gender requirements for the sponsor or peer support.
• be 18 years of age or older
• be working with a club or organisation where you can mentor women and girls in community coaching or officiating roles
• identify either a peer support or sponsor from their club or organisation who will attend components of the program
• have coaching or officiating experience (minimum of 2 years). While coaching or officiating experience is required, the ASC also encourages applicants who possess a combination of other relevant experience, such as teaching experience or participation in previous mentor programs.

Key dates and venue

Participant support

The following support options are available to applicants.

Eligibility

Interested in the program but not sure if it’s right for you? Please email coaching@ausport.gov.au to discuss.

Support to attend

• Support is available to enable attendance at the program for those who may not otherwise be able to attend. This could include (but is not limited to) travel support, translators, childcare, breast feeding area or bringing a support person. Please email coaching@ausport.gov.au to discuss how ASC can support you.
• On request, ASC will supply you with a letter of support to your employer to attend the program.

Application evaluation

All applications will first be assessed against the eligibility criteria and then all eligible applications will be evaluated by an internal assessment panel at the Australian Sports Commission.

Evaluation criteria

1. Relevant experience
   1. Coaching or officiating experience, or a combination of coaching or officiating experience with other relevant experience
2. Readiness to mentor
   1. Demonstrates readiness to commence (or continue) mentoring either during the program period (preferred) or after the program
3. Relevance and motivation
   1. Clearly articulates why they are intrinsically motivated to take part in the program
   2. Clearly articulates a vision for positive impact at their club or organisation.