As part of National Mentoring Month, UK Athletics has confirmed the launch of a new mentoring programme in collaboration with England Netball.

It follows last year’s highly successful mentoring programme with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in which the ECB provided a cohort of female senior leaders to act as mentors to UKA’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity advocates. The group were able to share best practice, learn from each other and continue to develop and upskill the mentees. Feedback from both organisations was very positive with both mentors and mentees valuing the opportunity to develop personally and professionally.

For this new partnership UKA senior managers will act as mentors to employees from England Netball.  The 12-month programme will commence in February with the mentors and mentees being introduced to the programme and development needs identified, then in March the matching process begins. It is hoped that mentors and mentees will be able to meet up for a face-to-face workshop later this Spring depending on the COVID-19 Government guidelines at that time.

Joanna Coates, UK Athletics CEO said “Athletics and netball are both high-profile sports with a huge focus on performance both from their athletes and employees especially with the Olympics, Paralympics and Commonwealth Games all coming up.

“It is important that the personal development of staff does not get overlooked in these fast-paced environments due to the demands of the sport. So I am delighted to support this partnership to help staff at both organisations build their knowledge and understanding through mentoring.”

Fran Connolly, CEO of England Netball, said: “We are delighted to be involved in this exciting new mentoring programme alongside UK Athletics, we are always looking at how as a sport we can grow and develop and it’s important that starts with our people.

“After facing many challenges in 2020, it will be incredibly useful for our staff to discuss learnings from others in the sporting industry and to gain valuable new skills. This is a fantastic opportunity, and we look forward to collaborating with UK Athletics on this programme going forward.”

Following completion of the programme the pairings can opt to continue their interaction informally and the programme may be repeated in reverse with UKA providing mentees for England Netball mentors.