A league of up-and-coming coaches have spent three days immersed at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for the inaugural ASPIRE Coach Program.
ASPIRE is a coaching program which aims to support the entry of early career coaches in the system and ultimately improve the proportion of women in head coaching roles.
38 coaches across 26 sports from Australia and 10 coaches from New Zealand completed the program. Their journey started with a combined acknowledgment of country and Māori cultural connection experience.
Connection, communication and understanding self were the three pillars of the program, which was led by a team of female leaders. Coaches also networked with key AIS leaders throughout the program.
“The care that has gone into delivering this particular program has been felt and been understood. I’ve never quite felt as heard or as seen in a room as I have in this particular program,” Paddle coach Demi O’Brien said.
Insights from the AIS Women in High Performance Coaching Project reveal talented women often leave the Australian sport system before they have had a real shot. This was the case for O’Brien.
“I treated this as a little bit of an open door scenario- so if I made it into the program, I would dip my toe back into the coaching realm because I have stepped back a bit and a couple of barriers have been up which meant I disconnected from that space a little bit. I used it as a bit of a litmus test to see if it was time to get into that space,” O’Brien said.
For Brooke Mugridge, who coaches the new Olympic sport flag football as well as rugby league, ASPIRE helped her find motivation.
“Believing in yourself and challenging yourself to take risks and dive into the deep end in coaching, especially as a female can be a hard road, but the rewards are so worth it,” Mugridge said.
“To be a part of one of our Olympic Teams would be the ultimate goal for me,” she said.
These coaches will continue to be connected formally for 6 months with online support, mentoring and professional development, with informal connections potentially lasting a lifetime.
“The friendships and camaraderie with other women in high performance coaching is the biggest takeaway of this program,” Baseball coach Luisa Gauci said.
The AIS has programs for women at all stages of their coaching journey to promote gender equality. In sports administration, the Australian Sports Commission’s Gender Equity Policy sets targets for leadership. The AIS also leads global projects on women's health and performance, with the pinnacle 2026 Women in Sport Congress being held in March. Tickets are available at WISC - Women In Sport Congress., opens in a new tab