Women in top level sports coaching roles are still in a minority but FIH is one of the international sports bodies leading the way in redressing the balance.  

At the FIH Academy that ran alongside the Hockey Champions Trophy in London in June, of the 64 participants, 19 were women. André Oliveira, sports coordinator at FIH, credits the FIH Women in Elite Coaching Initiative with this relatively high percentage of female participants.

“This initiative is helping FIH to bring women coaches into the spotlight so that more can follow their example”, André says.  

The FIH push for more females in top roles goes back to March this year when it launched its Pledge for Parity campaign. The project’s long-term aim is to increase the number of females coaching within the top 12 nations. This is a key part of the FIH's 10 year-year strategy - the Hockey Revolution, of which one key area of focus is to increase the degree of professionalism throughout all areas of the sport.  

At the recent Rio Olympic Games, keen observers will have spotted just three women among the coaches on the benches. Alyson Annan is head coach to the silver medal winning Netherlands; Karen Brown is one of the assistant coaches to the gold medal winning Great Britain side and Janneke Schopman is assistant coach to Team USA, who finished fifth.  

But if that trio looks a depressingly small group, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the glass ceiling soon shattering.   

The female coaches we spoke to in London are all heavily involved in coaching and are hugely enthusiastic and passionate about reaching the very top of the coaching tree. One of the reasons that is always given for women not reaching the top is a commitment to other things – family being the main distraction. Alyson Annan, who has two young children, is the perfect example of someone managing to be a mother and a high performance coach.  

Jen Wilson, former South African player and Olympian, is head coach at Sevenoaks Hockey Club in Kent, England and is also assistant coach to the Scottish women’s team based at the other end of the UK. A seemingly difficult dual role is just worked out logically – with Wilson fitting her international duties around her domestic ones.  

From talking to the female coaches, it seems that many of the arguments or reasons given for a lack of females at the top of the coaching tree can soon be dismissed in the face of determination and will.  

One major reason used to explain the lack of female coaches is the dearth in role models. This is the very issue that Women in Elite Coaching will deal with rapidly. Two of Argentina’s Las Leonas – Jorgelina Rimoldi and Laura Del Colle – were in London on the FIH Academy High Performance Coaching courses. Both are Olympians and both are actively coaching across a range of abilities. The Pan American Hockey Federation paid for the two coaches to attend the course, the payback is that they will continue coaching, not just in Argentina, but across neighbouring Pan-Am countries.  

Jorgelina is heavily involved in hockey development through her work at San Fernando Hockey club, where she coaches several teams, as well as her work as a development officer with the national hockey federation. Laura, who lectures at Rosario University, coaches her students, shows school teachers how to coach hockey and is running a goalkeeping academy. Both women have also coached in developing hockey nations such as Guatemala and Peru, and will continue to do so.  

While they might not yet be featuring on the bench at the major events, there is no mistaking that sound… one of shattering glass!

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