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Coaching

Yachting New Zealand to focus on female talent

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Rosie Chapman sees a lot of potential in female sailing in this country and her focus is now on harnessing that.

Chapman has been Yachting New Zealand women's sailing manager for the past 14 months but her main focus up to this point has largely been on leading the Laser Radial programme.

That focus will now change for at least the next 18 months as she heads up the implementation of Yachting New Zealand's Women and Girls in Sailing strategy that was developed last year.

The strategy aims to attract more female participants, retain those already sailing and advance equal opportunities and operates under the three main platforms of culture, pathways and programmes.

"We are bringing more and more females into youth level so we have quite a healthy number of female coaches and sailors already," Chapman said. "The big thing for me is retention, making sure we keep them in the sport and that we provide all the opportunities and they know where they can go.

"At the moment, I'm really taking a lead on how we are going to implement the strategy and using the right resources to do that. We are also looking at the best ways to implement pathways and how to get more females entering the high performance stream."

Chapman's change of focus was largely brought about by the Women in High Performance Sport Residency Fund, which aims to establish a cohort of talented, highly capable, future female leaders and high performance coaches.

Yachting New Zealand is one of nine national sports organisations to benefit from the residency fund, meaning Chapman is part of a high-level leadership programme that will be crucial in her work on delivering Yachting New Zealand's strategy. 

"I’m really excited to have this opportunity and I’m really looking forward to working with so many top female coaches and potential high performance leaders on the programme," she said. "One of the most exciting things about it is working with other sports."

Chapman will tour around the country to meet sailors, coaches and parents, starting with this weekend's Aon regional clinic in Wellington, and is also planning to attend various junior and youth national championships.

"I really encourage people to reach out," Chapman said. "If you don't know the answers, it's OK to reach out to other people. We are here to help. I'm also really keen to hear other people's ideas."

Rosie Chapman can be contacted on rosie@yachtingnz.org.nz

  • Pic: Rosie Chapman working with 420 combination Rebecca Hume and Amelia Angus. Photo: Yachting New Zealand.