Female coaches providing role models in Rugby

As the Women’s game experiences growth amongst the playing group, coaching is also looking to capitalize on the success of Canterbury, Matatu and the Black Ferns in recent years.

While the amount of female players continues to grow at a steady rate, females in coaching is an area of the game that needs to follow, and the importance of having female role models in rugby cannot be understated.

“I think there’s something so special about a female being coached by another female, it’s really cool obviously to have males involved in the game, but it’s another thing to have those females involved as well.” Said High School Old Boys’ Senior Girls’ coach Anna Livingstone.

“It’s incredibly rewarding, one of the things I love about rugby in particular is the growth of the whole person and how that impacts their hauora and their wellbeing.”

The role that females can play as a coach is not lost on the players either, with HSOB’s Rosie Buchanan-Brown a part of the Cantabrians squad that featured an all-female coaching team last year.

“Last year, I was lucky enough to play in the Cantabrians squad, and it’s the first time I’ve been coached by a full female management team,” said Buchanan-Brown.

“It was just amazing because not only have they been in our shoes before, so they know what we’re going through and they probably went through a tougher time than us, so it’s very inspiring to see where they’ve come from and what they are doing now, and it’s breaking down that stereotype of it’s a male game.”

“I’ve done a little bit of coaching myself with high school teams, and I just can’t get enough of it. At times it’s difficult, but I’ll be involved for a long time to come and coaching is a great way to give back to the sport that gave me so much.” Buchanan-Brown said.

It is an area of the game that Canterbury Rugby have recognised too, with the appointment of two full time coaches, alongside Matatū, seeing club player and coach development as key aspects of the role.

With a strong history in Women’s rugby, there is no shortage of experienced wahine in the community, of whom Livingstone encourages them to “give it a go”. 

“I know there are a lot of females who played rugby and perhaps they don’t back themselves to coach, maybe thinking they don’t have the knowledge or the skill set, but 100% you have so much to offer, we’ve got a whole lot of girls’ and ladies here training, and you’ve got so much to offer them.”