UpSkilling Coaches

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UpSkilling Coaches

UpSkilling Coaches is an innovative project dedicated to strengthening the skills of female coaches in Europe. (Project Number: 101181931)

31/08/2026

When coaches grow, sport grows with them.

Supporting female coaches means strengthening skills, confidence, leadership and professional opportunities — but the impact goes further.

Empowered coaches can inspire athletes, build more inclusive teams and contribute to positive change within sporting organisations and communities.

Investing in female coaches means investing in the future of sport.

28/08/2026

Great leadership is not about following a single coaching style.

It is about listening, understanding your athletes and adapting your communication to their individual needs.

During the UPSkilling Coaches activities in Italy, empathy, trust and relationship-building emerged as powerful tools for creating environments where athletes feel confident to communicate, ask questions and learn from mistakes.

Because effective coaching starts with strong relationships.

27/08/2026

61.54% hold a Master's degree.
Only 13% work as full-time coaches.

Among the Italian female coaches surveyed by UPSkilling Coaches, high levels of education do not necessarily translate into full-time professional opportunities.

A powerful reminder that supporting women in coaching means not only developing skills, but also creating pathways towards visibility, recognition and sustainable careers in sport.

📊 Source: UPSkilling Coaches Research Report – D2.1

26/08/2026

Great coaching goes beyond technical knowledge.

It means communicating effectively, building trust, understanding athletes and knowing how to adapt your leadership to different people and situations.

These skills can be learned, practised and strengthened.

Because becoming a better coach is a journey of continuous growth.

🔗 Discover the UPSkilling Coaches Toolbox:
https://toolboxupskillingcoaches.infoproject.eu/

26/08/2026

More than 25 years in coaching — and still learning, exchanging and pushing for change. ⚽💜

Meet Svetlana Mihaylova, an experienced coach from Bulgaria’s National Sports Academy, where she works with the training and development of young female footballers.

Reflecting on her participation in the UPSkilling Coaches international meeting in Budapest, Svetlana highlights something that sits at the heart of our project: even experienced coaches benefit from spaces where they can exchange perspectives, explore new approaches and better understand the challenges women continue to face in sport.

Through discussions with international partners, she gained new insights into European policies, good practices, gender equality and the professional development of female coaches.

These exchanges do more than strengthen individual coaches. They create a foundation for wider awareness and change across the sport sector.

🎥 Watch Svetlana’s perspective on why learning, cooperation and visibility remain essential for women in coaching.

Experience grows stronger when it is shared.

25/08/2026

Sometimes the path to coaching begins with finding your way back to the sport you love. 🏊‍♀️🚴‍♀️🏃‍♀️

Meet Katerina, founder and head coach of Alicorn Triathlon.

After spending almost 12 years away from swimming, Katerina returned to the water — and discovered something bigger than her own comeback.

She realised how much she wanted to help others overcome their fears, develop new skills and discover what they are capable of.

Swimming gradually led her to open-water swimming, then to triathlon. And when her athletes started asking, “Katya, why don’t we have our own club?”, another chapter began.

Today, they train, race and grow together as a team. 💪

Running a club also means challenges: finding clients, organising schedules, communicating, handling administration and balancing many responsibilities at once.

But Katerina’s conclusion says it all:

“No matter all the challenges, I love what I do.” 💙

Her story is a reminder that coaching is more than delivering a training session. It is about creating opportunities, building confidence and helping others move beyond the limits they once believed they had.

🎥 Watch Katerina’s journey.

23/08/2026

Women should not have to choose between a coaching career and having a family. 🏀

Meet Agich, basketball coach at the Hungarian University of Sports Sciences, sharing her perspective on some of the challenges female coaches still face in sport.

From prejudice and stereotypes to unequal opportunities and pay, Arin highlights that gender equality in coaching requires more than encouraging women to enter the profession.

It also means creating conditions that allow them to stay, progress and build sustainable careers.

One issue she particularly highlights is the lack of adequate maternity support for women working in coaching.

Female coaches should not be placed in a position where they have to choose between their career and their family.

Sport clubs and federations have an important role to play in changing this — by creating fair opportunities, equal recognition and working conditions that reflect the realities of women’s lives.

🎥 Watch Arin’s message and join the conversation:

What needs to change to make coaching a sustainable career for more women?

22/08/2026

One methodology. 11 female coaches. Many different sports. 💪

What does inclusive coaching look like in practice?

In Hungary, 11 female coaches took the UPSkilling Coaches methodology out of the learning environment and applied it directly in their everyday coaching.

And they did it across very different sports and physical activities:

🏃 Running and athletics
🏀 Basketball
💃 Dance and Zumba
🧘 Yoga
🏋️ CrossFit and personal training
🤸 Acrobatic rock and roll
🏊 Swimming
🚴 Triathlon and more

The coaches did not need to completely redesign their training sessions.

Instead, they focused on how they coached: using more inclusive communication, giving constructive and individualised feedback, creating space for athlete input, encouraging participation and reflecting on their role as female coaches and role models.

That flexibility is important.

Inclusive coaching is not a single exercise or a fixed training plan. It is an approach that can be adapted to different sports, athletes and coaching environments.

From the swimming pool to the basketball court, the principle remains the same:

Create a space where every athlete has the opportunity to participate, develop and be heard.

20/08/2026

Talent has no gender. Opportunity still does.

Women continue to face barriers when building careers in coaching — and some of those barriers have little to do with their knowledge, qualifications or ability to lead.

Research carried out for UPSkilling Coaches highlighted this clearly in Hungary:

⚠️ 43% of Hungarian respondents identified sexism as a significant obstacle for female coaches.

⚠️ 29% pointed to social barriers affecting women’s opportunities in coaching.

These numbers remind us that increasing the number of qualified female coaches is only part of the solution.

We also need to challenge the assumptions surrounding who looks like a coach, whose expertise is trusted and who is given opportunities to lead.

Visibility matters.

When women are seen coaching teams, mentoring others, making sporting decisions and progressing into leadership positions, they help reshape expectations for the next generation.

Changing coaching starts with changing what we consider “normal”.

👉 Let’s make female leadership in sport visible, recognised and expected.

19/08/2026

A good coach should be judged by their knowledge, skills and care for athletes — not by their gender.

In sport, authority is not always perceived equally.

In this video, Ivelina Kirilova is an Assistant Professor in the Adapted Physical Activity and Sport sector at the Water Sports Department of the National Sports Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria, who is involved in UPSkilling Coaches reflects on something many women still experience: men can be more readily accepted as figures of authority, while women often feel they have to continuously prove that they belong.

But coaching ability is not defined by gender.

It comes from knowledge.
From experience.
From understanding athletes.
From leadership.
And from having the skills to help people develop.

Her experience through UPSkilling Coaches reinforced a simple conviction:

Women do not need special treatment. They need an equal chance to demonstrate what they can do.

Creating equality in coaching therefore means opening doors, challenging assumptions and giving female coaches the same opportunities to lead, develop and be recognised.

🎥 Watch her perspective.

Ivelina Kirilova

Indirizzo

Palermo

Sito Web

https://upskillingcoaches.infoproject.eu/

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