Leinster Rugby’s Domestic Coaching department have partnered up with Gordon MacLelland, CEO of Working with Parents in Sport (WWPIS).
Their mission statement is to ‘support organisations, parents and coaches in working together to provide children with the best possible coaching experience.’
Other WWPIS clients include 10 national governing bodies worldwide, the Youth Sports Trust, England Rugby and UK Coaching.
Over the past three months, Leinster Rugby have delivered a trilogy of webinars to minis co-ordinators throughout the province.
The first session was designed around building positive relationships with our players and parents and looking at topics such as parental engagement, being a role model and creating amazing environments.
That was followed by a seminar tailored to supporting the parent-coach with discussions around having crucial conversations and dealing with disagreement while still providing a positive and challenging environment.
Footage shared of a car journey home with parents and kids raised a few emotions and awareness amongst the attendees on the conversations parents have with their children post-game.
The final session was aimed at positively supporting your child during their mini experience.
Understanding why children play sport and understanding the ladder of potential was a key message in this webinar learning how to ask great questions and avoid making early comparisons was high on the agenda also.
Over the course of the six sessions, we had just over 100 in attendance.
Here are some comments from co-ordinators about their experience and the feasibility of these being rolled out:
“Not only can it provide an enhanced level of support to coaches and children but it will encourage parents/guardians to feel part of their child’s journey.”
“The webinars delivered a lot of practical focus that coaches could avail of dealing with their own children.”
“I really liked the sessions having encountered massive problems dealing with parents in the recent past, I feel it was of benefit to me.”
“There should be a ‘call to action’ to have every club and mini co-ordinator to run a parents workshop with this content.”
For more information on coaching courses, contact your local Coach Development Officer (CDO).
