NSWRL-UNE Leadership Course celebrates latest graduates
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) tonight celebrated the achievements of 21 women from diverse sports and roles at a graduation ceremony for the organisation’s unique 2022 Women in Sport Leadership professional development programme.
NSW Office of Sport CEO Karen Jones hosted NSWRL CEO Harvey Norman, NSW Sky Blues coach Kylie Hilder and Opposition Minister for Sport Julia Finn at the graduation dinner with David Trodden by Fox League anchor Yvonne Sampson, at the NSWRL Center of Excellence at Sydney Olympic Park.
Held over 20 weeks (September – December 2022), the program brought together general managers, coaches, football managers, media officers, referees, development officers from 11 sporting organisations, including Gymnastics NSW, Hockey NSW, Diving NSW, Football NSW, Volleyball NSW, Snow Australia, Surfing NSW, Blind Sports and Recreation NSW-ACT, What Ability Foundation, NRL Wheelchair, NSWRL and NSWRL clubs.
Participants undertook a series of face-to-face workshops, supported by individual coaching sessions, and group webinars to complete assessment in two modules, giving them nationally recognized credit towards a Diploma or Certificate IV in leadership and management.
The innovative training initiative, first run as a pilot program in 2021-22, was developed by the NSWRL in partnership with the University of New England (UNE) to address the barriers women face in achieving leadership roles across elite sports through their career development in the key areas of leadership self-awareness and communication.
Following the success of the pilot, the NSWRL secured government funding through the 2022 Her Sport Her Way Grants Programme, enabling it to offer Women in Sport Leadership Scholarships to aspiring elite female coaches and administrators from a range of sporting organisations.
The Her Sport Her Way Grants program is part of the NSW Government’s Women in Sport strategy designed to help sporting organizations continue to increase participation and promote and encourage women to be leaders in sport .
NSWRL CEO David Trodden said the organization felt strongly about the potential of the Australian sports sector to become a leader in gender equality and the role it could play through programs like this.
“To achieve this potential, we need to improve the recruitment and retention of women leaders, coaches and match officials in a variety of roles across the sports sector,” he said.
“The phrase ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ is often used in relation to promoting opportunities for women in sport and that is exactly why NSWRL was determined to open up the opportunity to participate in our Women’s in Sports Leadership Program to all sports.
“We are delighted that so many sports wanted to be involved and also very grateful for the State Government funding which has enabled us to continue to deliver the programme, building capacity and offering opportunities in all sports, not just Rugby League .”
Two of the graduates from the pilot program included Hilder and her assistant NSW coach (also NSW County coach) Ruan Sims.
Among the graduates of the current program are former Jillaroo and newly appointed 2023 Penrith Rugby League Women’s (PRLW) coach Karen Stuart, and Women’s State of Origin touch judge and regular central referee in the men’s Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield matches, Karra -Lee Nolan.
