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The achievements of 19 future female sport leaders from 10 different sports will be celebrated next week at a prestigious graduation ceremony for NSWRL’s nationally-recognised Women In Sport Leadership (WISL) program.
The latest graduates, who have credited the 20-week program with increasing their confidence and communication skills, will receive their certificates on Monday 3 February in front of state and national sports CEOs, NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden, NSWRL Chair Paul Conlon, and University of New England (UNE) Partnerships CEO Ben Gilmore.
The graduation dinner at NSWRL’s Centre of Excellence will be hosted by multi award-winning sports broadcaster Tracey Holmes.
The NSWRL-funded program is run in conjunction with UNE Partnerships and recognises the barriers which women face in achieving leadership roles across elite sports.
A survey completed at the end of their studies showed 100 per cent of participants experienced a rise in their level of confidence and communication skills to pursue their career goals and to take on various projects or increased leadership and management responsibilities and roles.
When the Women In Sport Leadership course began as a pilot program in 2021 it was initially targeted at female coaches, but has evolved to cater for the wide variety of leadership roles available in sport.
Since then 62 graduates from 23 sports, or sporting organisations, have completed the course over the past four years.
The 2024 WISL intake included executives, managers, officials, and co-ordinators from sporting organisations representing Rugby League, athletics, surf life saving, tennis, touch football, basketball, gymnastics, volleyball, lawn bowls, and football.
The four-month professional development course included face-to-face workshops supported by individual coaching sessions, and group webinars to assist participants to complete assessment in two modules, which gives them nationally-recognised credits towards a Diploma or Certificate IV in Leadership and Management.
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Among the speakers this year were coach of the Olympic silver medal-winning women’s water polo team in Paris, Bec Rippon; Channel Nine commentator and assistant coach to the Westpac NSW Blues Women’s Origin team, Ruan Sims; and NSWRL director Carolyn Campbell, who is a former Sport NSW Chair and Venues NSW Director, and currently is CEO of Scouts NSW.
“Programs like this help break down some of the barriers that still exist towards gender equity and having female voices listened to in the world of sports organisation and delivery,” Trodden said.
“This is a growing industry. Women’s participation rates in Rugby League, for example, are very close to breaking through the 30,000-mark this year. The Women’s State of Origin not only went to three games last year, but broke attendance and viewership records in the process.”
Gilmore said: “UNE Partnerships and the University of New England are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the long-term development of such an incredible group of women and future leaders.”