Kat Hurrell, Badminton England Assistant Pathway Coach, was delighted at the opportunity to be part of UK Sport’s Women’s Coaches Leadership Programme.
Along with 23 other mentees, Hurrell took the course taught by former GB and England hockey coach Karen Brown, with Hurrell being mentored personally by Boccia UK coach Claire Morrison.
The program took place online, with the mentees regularly being engaged and challenged in discussions about coaching style and leadership.
“I think it’s quite a challenge to get 24 coaches in a room when everyone’s so crowded,” Hurrell said.
“But we had a mix of online theory group workshops and then some smaller groups supported by Karen [Brown], our mentor. She facilitated some good discussions and asked some good questions so we could explore some of the theory a little further.
“I think over the course of the course, as we got to know each other better, we were pretty happy to have some really good conversations and ask each other these questions.
“It wasn’t just about sitting around and learning some theory, we got into some good, detailed conversations about how it actually applies to our daily lives.
The BIG HIT returns again in September 2022. A badminton festival hosted through our network of clubs and venues to attract new players! 🏸
More information will be announced shortly. #TheBigHit #ComeAndHaveAHit pic.twitter.com/9rmtspwOIN
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 26, 2022
“We’ve covered things like leadership styles and negotiation skills that we need and talked a lot about what’s really important to us, as well as values and beliefs. I’ve done this before as a coach, but not necessarily as a manager.
“It just made you think about things you might never have done before.”
This year was the second edition of the program, with two of last year’s cohorts, Monica Greenwood (British Cycling) and Jen Leeming (British Diving), taking on mentoring positions alongside Morrison.
The initiative aims to attract more women to high-level coaching, with the intention of more than doubling the representation of UK women coaches in the Olympic and Paralympic high-performance community by Paris 2024.
Hurrell had the perfect example in Morrison, who has competed in the Paralympic Games as a bocce coach and has worked with athletes such as Tokyo gold medalist David Smith.
That’s why we do it ❤️
Use their Birmingham 2022 medals to inspire the next generation of English Shuttles 🏸 pic.twitter.com/44RH8kEEBo
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 22, 2022
She added: “Claire Morrison was brilliant. I haven’t been able to visit them in person, but I think hopefully that’s still on the agenda.
“She invited us to some of her MDT (multidisciplinary team) meetings, which I spoke to her about.
“Badminton is evolving, we’re building a big team now and it was great to have someone with their experience to share some best practices and tips on how this could work because I didn’t really have much of it.
“She took a lot of time with us and it was just great to meet people who were there and did a lot.”
Hurrell hopes the increased visibility of women coaches inspires other women to come to the sport in a variety of roles, but she also hopes they can have a positive impact on players.
Brilliant performances brought Lisa & Estelle (WD) and Lisa (WS) two 🥈 medals at the U19 European Championship!
Amazing work girls! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/rmZAolNgjJ
— Badminton England (@BadmintonEnglnd) August 30, 2022
She’s putting that into practice now, 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 to make a decision because it’s their career and it’s our job to try to make that happen and not do everything for them.
“We spend a lot of time together, we’re quite invested and you want them to do their best.
“Sometimes it actually empowers them to believe that and take advantage of the opportunities that come their way.”
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