Badminton England Assistant Pathway coach Kat Hurrell relished the chance to be part of UK Sport’s Female Coaches Leadership Programme.
Along with 23 other mentees, Hurrell took part in the course which was overseen by former GB and England Hockey coach Karen Brown, with Hurrell personally mentored by Boccia UK coach Claire Morrison.
The programme took place online with the mentees regularly engaged and challenged in discussions on coaching style and leadership.
“I think it’s quite challenging to get 24 female coaches in the same room with everyone’s schedules being so busy,” Hurrell explained.
“But we had a mixture of group online theory workshops, and then some smaller groups that were supported by Karen [Brown], who’s our mentor. She facilitated some good discussion and asked some good questions to make us explore some of the theory a little bit further.
“I think as the course went on, as we got to know each other better, we were quite happy to have some really good conversations and ask those questions of each other.
“It wasn’t just a case of sitting around and learning some theory, we got into some good, detailed conversations of how it actually applies to our day-to-day lives.
The BIG HIT will return once again in September 2022. A festival of badminton delivered through our network of clubs and venues to engage with new players! 🏸
More information announced soon.#TheBigHit #ComeAndHaveAHit pic.twitter.com/9rmtspwOIN
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 26, 2022
“We’ve covered things such as leadership styles and negotiating skills that we need, and a lot of talk about what’s really important to us and values and beliefs. I’ve done that as a coach before but not necessarily as a leader.
“It just made you think about things that you maybe haven’t done before.”
This year marked the second edition of the programme, with two of last year’s cohort, Monica Greenwood (British Cycling) and Jen Leeming (British Diving), taking up positions as mentors alongside Morrison.
The aim of the initiative is to encourage more women into high-level coaching, with the intention of more than doubling the representation of British female coaches in the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community by Paris 2024.
Hurrell had the perfect example in Morrison who has attended Paralympic Games as a boccia coach, working with athletes including Tokyo gold medal winner David Smith.
This is why we do it ❤️
Using their Birmingham 2022 medals to inspire the next generation of English shuttlers 🏸 pic.twitter.com/44RH8kEEBo
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 22, 2022
She added: “Claire Morrison was brilliant. I didn’t actually get to go and see her in person, but I think hopefully that’s still in the plan.
“She invited us into some of her MDT (multi-disciplinary teams) meetings, which was something I spoke with her about.
“Badminton is evolving, we’re building a big team now and it was great to have someone with her experience sharing some good practice and tips around how that could work because it’s something I haven’t really had much.
“She made a lot of time for us and it was just great to meet people that have been there and done it a lot.”
Hurrell hopes the greater visibility of female coaches inspires other women into sport in various roles but she also hopes they can be a positive influence on players.
Brilliant performances saw two 🥈 medals for Lisa & Estelle (WD) and Lisa (WS) in the U19 European Champs!
Amazing work girls! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/rmZAolNgjJ
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 30, 2022
This is something she is now putting into practice having coached Lisa Curtin and Estelle Van Leeuwen to silver at the European Junior Championships in Serbia this week.
“A lot of what I try to do with the athletes I work with is do my best to support them on and off the court,” she added.
“Hopefully, they feel they can be independent and try and make a decision because it’s their career and it’s our job to try and facilitate that and not do it all for them.
“We spend a lot of time together, we get quite invested and you want them to do the best they can.
“Sometimes it’s actually empowering them to believe that and go and take the opportunities that are there for them.”
