26 more women join the unique elite coaching leadership programme led by the University of Hertfordshire

It follows nine WISH graduates being involved at the recent Winter Olympics.

The 26 women include three from Great Britain. One of these, Nathalie Siegrist, is Swiss by birth and was lead canoeing coach for Switzerland before taking up an academy coaching role in the UK.

The second, Siwan Lillicrap, was a Welsh rugby union player who made her debut for Wales in 2016, and captained the team at the 2020, 2021 and 2022 Women's Six Nations Championship. She was one of the first professional women's rugby players in Wales.

Also part of the cohort is Maddie Hinch an England hockey player who is working in USA as the national women’s team goalkeeper coach. Hinch enjoyed a glittering career at international level having played 186 times for England and Great Britain after making her debut in 2008 aged 19.

In all, eleven British coaches have been involved in the 21-month leadership programme, with curling’s Jennifer Dodds having – as an athlete - represented Great Britain at the recent Milan-Cortina Games.

The 26 women join 120 others who have already graduated from the WISH programme and represent 23 countries and 18 sports. They are the sixth cohort to begin the programme, which is led by the University, delivered by Females Achieving Brilliance, and supported by the International Olympic Committee’s Olympic Solidarity department.

Professor Elizabeth Pike, director of the WISH programme, said:

“The residential week is the only time that all the women are together during the 21-month programme. It is an intense week, but the evidence is that this experience forges a unique bond and the network they create here continuously supports their journey to elite coaching and self-improvement.

“At the Tokyo Games, great strides towards parity for female athletes in participation (48 per cent of the athletes at Tokyo 2020 were women) but these are not yet matched in coaching. The proportion of female coaches has risen slowly to 13 per cent at Tokyo.

“We’ve seen good advances in medal opportunities and media coverage, but coaching is lagging a long way behind. Change will not happen overnight - it is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Learn more about sport at Herts.

Full list for cohort six:

Athletics: Nada Bendova (SVK)

Baseball/Softball: Greta Cechetti (ITA) Saskia Kosterink (NL)

Canoe sport: Nathalie Siegrist (GBR)

Curling: Asta Vaicekonyte

Cycling: Violette Irakoze Neza (RWA)

Equestrian: Leonor Munoz Ortiz (CRC) Maria Ines Garcia Cuellar (COL)

Hockey: Maddie HINCH (USA) Rani (Rampal) OLY (India)

Ice Hockey: Karolina Erbanova (CZE)

Judo: Lucky Masedo Mabaka (BOT)

Rowing: Denise Walsh (IRL) Madalena Ferreira (POR) Stéphanie Marchand (CAN)

Rugby: Marliza van der Marwe (RSA) Siwan Lillicrap (GBR)

Sailing: Sophia Reineke (USA)

Skateboarding: Amber Clyde (NZL) Marianna Herczeg (HUN)

Table Tennis: Anamaria Sebe (ROU)

Taekwondo: Petra Butala Kovacic (SRB)

Volleyball: Inmaculada Garcia Pamplona (SPN) Marie Danielle Lucy Geraldine LATOUR (MAU) Vasiliki Karantasiou (Greece)

Wrestling: Tayla Ford (NZL)