Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme
World Rugby has confirmed it will be running a Coaching Internship Programme to provide female coaches with a unique 12-month placement opportunity with a team competing at Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand.
However, applicants have to come from one of the RWC 2021 participating unions. Not all of the teams have been confirmed for RWC 2021 in NZ, and in Asia, the qualifiers are still to be determined with no dates yet set for the Asian RWC 2021 qualifiers which includes Hong Kong, Japan and Kazakhstan.
World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “We acknowledge that there are disproportionate levels of women in high-performance coaching environments across the men’s and women’s game and are committed to making impactful change in this area.
Through the International Olympic Committee development grant that was awarded to World Rugby, we can deliver and amplify deployment strategies that provide female coaches with opportunities to gain meaningful experience in relevant high-performance environments. We are promoting and instilling change that will ultimately result in the diversification of the high-performance coaching landscape in rugby.”
What is the Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme?
The transformational Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme is developed in line with the 2017-25 Women in Rugby strategic plan. World Rugby say is committed to “supporting the development of female coaches in the sport and has set an ambitious target of a minimum of 40 per cent of all coaches at Rugby World Cup 2025 to be women.”
Interns will be fully embedded with each team at the Rugby World Cup 2021. World Rugby said, “they will gain meaningful professional development opportunities and experience working in a high-performance sporting environment, leading up to and during Rugby World Cup 2021.”
The internships financial costs are covered by World Rugby and an International Olympic Committee development grant funding over the 12-month period.
This will enable Rugby World Cup 2021 qualified unions to nominate an aspiring elite-level female coach from their union to avail of the internship opportunity.
- Transformational Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme opens for all RWC 2021 participating unions.
- Selected participants to be fully embedded for 12 months in RWC 2021 national squad management teams
- The programme aims to address the lack of female coaches at the high-performance level across men’s and women’s rugby.
- World Rugby targets a minimum of 40 per cent of all coaches at Rugby World Cup 2025 to be women.
It is also meant to address a Women’s High-Performance Coaching review in 2018 which identified that there is a “significant lack of women’s representation at the high-performance coaching level, with only one female head coach and three women’s assistant coaches part of Rugby World Cup 2017 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.”
World Rugby General Manager for Women’s Rugby Katie Sadleir said: “Through our women’s coaching network, of which there are 110 female coaches, we know there is a lot of talented female rugby coaches globally who are lacking opportunities to gain demonstrable experience in high-performance environments. This programme will provide the participants with an excellent opportunity to gain top-level experience.”
https://www.facebook.com/worldrugby/videos/769246033842949/?t=3
Which countries have qualified for RWC 2021?
So far the following countries have qualified for the Women’s RWC 2021. RWC 2021 will run from 18th September – 16th October 2021 in New Zealand.
- New Zealand
- England
- USA
- France
- Canada
- Australia
- Wales
- South Africa
- Fiji
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