People get into grassroots coaching for a variety of different reasons and often follow very different paths in getting there. This series of articles will look to tell the story of some of our Mini & Junior coaches.

We are going to kick-off by featuring Heidi Hall, one of our Minis (Under 4s & 5s) coaches.

Name: Heidi Hall
Profession: Primary School Teacher
Age: 39
Team: Ladies 1XV
Playing Position: Prop (pending surgery!)

Tell us a bit about yourself and your rugby background

I am a mum of 3 children, a primary school teacher, current Chairperson of the Ladies team and wife to the Club Chairman. Our twin girls play rugby and my husband and I both coach the Juniors, so it’s definitely a family affair.

Rugby was not really on my radar growing up. I played lots of sport in school and was in teams for netball, hockey, tennis and swimming plus doing any extra events or tournaments that were going. Only the boys played rugby. My first taste of rugby was thanks to a new female PE teacher at school, who put on some girls rugby sessions in sixth form. I really enjoyed playing and when I went off to uni, I joined the uni team and the one in the local town there too. I played number 8 for both teams and enjoyed the central nature of the role, making big tackles, getting stuck in with the forwards and getting lots of ball carries.

When I came home from uni, I joined Chipping Sodbury as they had connections with the original ADOB Ladies team from years ago. After a while, I felt that I needed to push myself and try to play at a higher standard so I joined Clifton Ladies who were the only team in the South West playing Premiership level rugby. Clifton evolved into Bristol Ladies Rugby – now the Bristol Bears. I assumed I would slide my way into a second or third team, but was immediately convinced to play prop for the first team as their regular prop was out injured. I never looked back and spent 6 years playing for both Bristol 1st and 2nd XV before stopping to have children. When ADOB set up a Ladies team it was the perfect time to come back to the game; it is exciting to be involved with a brand new squad.

What was it that got you into coaching?

When the Juniors section was first set up, I used to bring our two girls along to the sessions. Being a teacher, it came naturally to me to step in, help out with games and support individuals. Although I teach older children, I got a huge amount of enjoyment myself from being around the younger ones.

I am a big champion of developing core, transferrable skills of footwork, coordination, spatial awareness and ball skills at a young age, so I decided to get more involved and play a part in the children’s rugby journey at our club. More than this though, I felt that I had the skills to support children’s growing confidence, independence and resilience in a fun outdoor sport environment. Initially, I worked alongside another experienced coach, and then as she moved up with the children into the older groups, I continued with the minis.

What's coaching done for you personally?

Coaching on a Sunday morning gets me ‘up and at it’ on what might otherwise become a lazy weekend morning. It’s only 2 hours and so I still have the rest of the day to do other things. Something I really value is that it gives me a world outside of work to be a part of. Teaching can be very all-consuming at times, and coaching is great for my mental well-being. It gets me outdoors, gives me something else to focus on and I enjoy being part of the team of coaches and other volunteers. I build great relationships with children and their families; seeing them have fun, gaining confidence and feeling positive about themselves genuinely makes me happy. I am always buzzing after training and it is a very rewarding part of my weekend.

Tell us about your favourite coaching moment

It’s hard to pinpoint something with the minis as we don’t play matches, but my favourite moments with the youngest ones are when you get a child who is apprehensive at first, doesn’t always want to join in, or uses their grown up to join in with them for reassurance and emotional support. There is usually a breakthrough moment in the season when you realise that the child has just done an entire session on their own! It’s a brilliant moment and one I enjoy celebrating with them.

I do also love it when I get comments from parents telling me that their child was so excited to come to rugby this morning that they were up and dressed in their kit before breakfast, or that they have been asking to play rugby in the garden with family all week. It reminds me of the positivity people get from being involved in sport, and why we give up our time to be involved with this.

Can you offer any advice or tips to female coaches who are possibly a bit worried about getting into grassroots coaching because of the "male majority"?

We have several female coaches in our Junior section, and a very supportive team, but this is certainly not the norm. Although any positive role model is good for children, I do think that having both male and female role models is important.

Coaches are in a position of trust and I think that all clubs should have a mix. Many clubs only have male coaches and rugby is a sport where girls generally don’t start to play until later, so they are often disadvantaged already when coming up against their male peers due to differences in strength, experience and technique. They can be faced with stereotyping by some that rugby is not for girls. This can sometimes, albeit unintentionally, be reinforced by language used automatically by male coaches. It is important then that young girls have aspirational figures within the club and that the club works hard to break down the stereotype by having both female and male coaches across the age groups.

Coaching has always been a male-dominated sector and even now it is considered a big deal to appoint a female coach to work with a male athlete or men’s team. This is something I think we can start changing at grassroots level. Girls rugby splits off from the boys aged 13 and having quality coaches at this stage is vital. It has often been said that the best coaches are never in the Girls section so having more coaches who are in tune with girls’ experiences and the differences in the girls' game is important.

To any female coach wanting to be involved, I would say that you should not be put off by a male-dominated environment. Just as the players contribute different things, so do different coaches. Instead of comparing yourself to a male coach, identify what you can bring to a club, what perspectives, insights or experience you may be able to offer, and how being a female coach might enhance the experience of all children coming up through the club – not just the girls. You also need to recognise that coaching is rewarding for you personally too; don’t deny yourself an opportunity to do something you are good at and will likely make you happy.