FIS’ Involvement in Mentoring and Education Programmes for Women in High-Performance Sport Pathway

Mar 06, 2024·Inside FIS

The FIS Development Hub continues to expand its offerings and connections with various organisations within the international sports community, particularly concerning the promotion of women in high-level sports environments. Among these, Member National Ski Associations (NSAs) of FIS will find two dedicated mentoring programme offerings for women on the FIS Development Hub portal: the WISH Programme (Women in Sports High), in collaboration with the IOC, and the Women Lead Sports Programme, in collaboration with APSO (Association of Para Sport Organisations).

FIS is encouraging every woman involved in snow sports to participate in those mentoring programmes to strengthen their valuable engagement.– Dimitrije Lazarovski, FIS Development Director

WISH – the Women in Sport High-performance pathway programme – is a crucial element of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s response to the under-representation of women among elite coaches in international sports. While there have been great strides towards parity for female athletes in Olympic Games participation (48 percent of the athletes at Tokyo 2020 were women), this progress has not been matched in coaching. Over the last decade, the proportion of female coaches has slowly risen to 13 percent at Tokyo. Supported by USD 1 million in Olympic Solidarity funding, WISH is a bespoke four-year program designed to equip approximately 125 women to coach at elite levels – Olympic, world championship, and continental teams. WISH is coordinated by the University of Hertfordshire (UH), delivered by Females Achieving Brilliance (FAB), and is supported by Olympic Solidarity (OS) and the participants’ International Federations (IFs).

For several years now, FIS has been among the participating IFs in the WISH Program. As such, it coordinates the applications from its Members, the National Ski Associations (NSAs), and is responsible for sport-specific mentoring, ongoing support, and qualification/deployment with teams. Additionally, each involved IF is committed to tracking and supporting coaches post-WISH program. A core component of WISH has been the willingness of the IFs to learn from each other and share their best practices.

About WISH programme

The WISH programme runs over 21 months and provides access to leadership training, leadership mentoring, sport-specific mentoring, and training led by the respective International Federation, along with engagements with the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and Member or National Federations. The programme is unique in that Olympic Solidarity, the IOC, along with the IFs and NOCs, will continue to track and support these high-performance women coaches going forward.

The programme includes:

1 residential session for 5 days in the UK
Self-assessment and 360-degree feedback on leadership and sport-specific competencies
8 online leadership sessions
8 leadership mentor sessions
4 sport-specific mentor sessions
Access to a diverse network of coaches from different regions, sports, and cultures.

I recommend this program to anyone because it has helped me develop professionally and personally. I have learned to be more self-confident and to believe in myself and my strengths. This allowed me to get to know myself better, to bring out my strengths, and to accept my weaknesses. It helped me to use tools such as presentation skills and business conversations, solve conflicts, and lead a team. [...] In every online meeting, I can take something new for myself and enjoy the time I learn tools to strengthen my leadership skills and start the day with more self-confidence. I am definitely a different person than I was before this program.– Jacqueline Stark, previous FIS participant, Verbandsentwicklung & Sportkoordination, Sportkoordinatorin & Nachwuchsreferentin Sprunglauf, Nordische Kombination

FIS is also part of and working with the Association of Para Sport Organisations (APSO) to offer a continuous series of online leadership courses for women (and supportive men) within the sphere of Paralympic Sport Organisations. The Women Lead Sports (WLS) programme is one of them, aiming to offer participants skill-building in communication, negotiation, and networking along with the development of self-confidence and personal leadership style for female Para Sport Leaders and male Gender Equality advocates on a national and international level. The programme is provided by leadership coach Gabriela Mueller Mendoza, who is very familiar with the sport ecosystem.

About Women Lead Sports Programme

Women Leads Sport (WLS) is a 4-week live online, action-oriented, and intense learning program for women who want to lead or get actively involved in decision-making within their sports organisations worldwide. This program was created based on 20 years of proven successful coaching record, empowering thousands of women in sports worldwide, in all 5 continents. It is a real Online training. It is not a webinar, where most participants listen passively. It is not a traditional PowerPoint presentation online. This is a real “Live Virtual Leadership Training Gym” where the coach will ask participants to practice, to get involved, to reflect, to take action, to get feedback, to train live, and to continue working after the session. It is enhanced by unique video content, web-training modules for participants to strengthen their personal brand, influence as a leader in sports, and make a difference. WLS is action-oriented, purpose-driven, and transformative.

It was a great opportunity to be part of the Women Lead Sport program. [...] I started the course with low self-confidence and a fear of public speaking and standing out. After introspection and self-discovery, Coach Gabriela Müller taught us valuable advice, practices, and facts on how we can make a change in different situations with different types of people. I didn't think I would feel more confident after just a couple of weeks. [...] I now speak more bravely in public and communicate more confidently with strangers, especially those in higher positions. Learning to delegate tasks to the people in charge, instead of doing them myself, has been the most helpful skill I gained. [...] I appreciate being one of those who had the chance to learn from her! Thank you so much to FIS and APSO for making it possible!– Rozsa Harmat, Secretary General, Hungarian Snowboard Federation

Banner Webinar Series Training the female athlete 2024

In addition to those mentoring programmes for women leadership, FIS is also investing in various education programmes. The FIS sub-committee Women Nordic Disciplines launched a webinar series addressing the crucial theme of Training the female athlete in January. This series of webinars intends to provide an advanced and up-to-date scientific knowledge about a wide range of female-specific topics and offers all participants the opportunity to ask questions to some of the main experts in the field. The webinar series is open to everyone and will run once a month until December.

Programme and registration form is available here: https://forms.office.com/e/BbLeEVCy96

Finally, in collaboration with Apex2100, FIS will also deliver a dedicated female coaches’ seminar in alpine skiing in April, at the Apex2100 facility.