SportNL was among the recipients of the Women and Gender Equity in Coaching Community of Practice and Mentorship Project through a partnership with the Coaching Association of Canada. Last month our participants were able to partake in their first training event where they were able to meet coaches from across the country and attend seminars and sessions relating to gender diversity in coaching.
We spoke we our four coaches: Linda Massie and Kailey Genge with hockey, and Melissa Hood and Hitanya Bommu with gymnastics, about their experience and what they hope to achieve through this project.
How long have you been involved in your sport? As a player and/or a coach?
Linda Massie (Hockey): 34 years – I started playing hockey when I was 5.
Kailey Genge (Hockey): I have been playing hockey since grade 3, which is about 14 years ago. I started coaching this season, in September 2024.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): I have been coaching gymnastics for 15 years and love it more each year!
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): I’ve been involved in gymnastics since I was 5 years old. I’m 16 now so it’s been just over a decade. As a coach, I only recently started coaching and have been doing so for 7 months.
Why did you want to become a coach?
Linda Massie (Hockey): In the beginning it was to stay involved with the game when there were no more playing options for me. Now, I enjoy helping hockey players find learn to love the game, find their strengths and develop confidence and resilience through the sport they love.
Kailey Genge (Hockey): I wanted to become a coach to stay connected to the sport, give back to the community that helped raise me, represent females in sports, and be a role model for young girls, helping them retain and increase their participation in sports.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): The opportunity to build confidence in children, not just in the gym, but to feel comfortable in their bodies and movement outside of the gym, is truly incredible. Coaching provides me this opportunity and so much more.
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): I wanted to become a coach because I was willing to expand my knowledge and experience with different roles in gymnastics itself. Being an athlete is one thing and being a coach is another even if both roles are in the same sport. Also, I wanted to get more experience with kids and learn how to give them a wonderful time at gymnastics just how my coaches did for me.
What is your favourite part of being a coach?
Linda Massie (Hockey): I love problem-solving to help athletes figure out what their barriers are and connecting with them to help them overcome those obstacles.
Kailey Genge (Hockey): I’ve only been coaching for a short amount of time, but I would say that my favourite part of being a coach is the genuine connections I’ve made with the girls, and seeing them grow and improve.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): I love my sport, gymnastics, and truly believe it is such an important fundamental activity that everyone (children and adults!) should participate in recreationally. It develops all of the fundamental movement patterns, the physical and motor components of fitness and confidence. It prepares athletes to better succeed in whichever sport they choose to focus on.
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): My favorite part about being a coach is when I’m working on new skills with my students and they are super excited to try even if they are scared or can’t do them properly because it gives them a chance to learn and overcome any fear and staying by their side and watching them improve really puts it together!
What was your biggest takeaway from meeting with other WAGE participants?
Linda Massie (Hockey): “Never underestimate your impact.”
Kailey Genge (Hockey): How varied everyones experience with sports are and how much we can learn from each other even if we are involved with very different sports.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): It is so empowering to work with such an incredible group of successful, confident women. Coming from a more female-dominant sport, it was a great reminder of how fortunate I am as a coach and how vital it is to work together so that all sports can have equal women’s programs. Seeing the data collected on female youth in sports was eye-opening. It is great to see that we are moving forward but we still have much work to do. I also really enjoyed the reminder that we can be female leaders but still wear the sparkly shoes!
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): My biggest takeaway is that with the all the different sports and the diversity in them, the coaching style in some aspects were pretty similar. Technical and sport specific wise they were obviously different, however, when interacting with young athletes, most of the time the coaches’ focus on if the athlete is having fun, is safe, improving their skills, and enjoying their time at the sport competitive or not.
What do you hope to accomplish as a mentor/mentee in this program?
Linda Massie (Hockey): I hope to be able to support other women coaches who have reservations about taking bigger leadership roles in coaching.
Kailey Genge (Hockey): I hope to grow in a variety of ways including enhancing my social intelligence, communication efficiency and leadership strategies as well as developing as a coach and how to develop players and teams within hockey.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): As a mentor, I am eager to work on ways that I can improve myself to be the best guide to my mentee and other young female coaches in my sport. I strive to provide opportunities for growth for my mentee and am eager to motivate and assist her in achieving her goals for the program. I am excited to look through coaching in the eyes of a new coach again and know that the insight will reflect positively on my own coaching.
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): As a mentee, I hope to become a better coach overall while giving my students and other athletes a memorable time at gymnastics and ensuring everyone has a fun, positive experience!
What is something you have learned from your mentor/mentee?
Linda Massie (Hockey): How important communication and connection are when guiding and leading others. This refers to mentor/mentee relationships, but also coach and athlete relationships as well.
Kailey Genge (Hockey): The importance of keeping our own emotions in check, holding ourselves accountable and working to better ourselves from our mistakes. Also, how to analyze our athletes more deeply, accounting for individual factors and then as a team and adjusting our coaching to their needs.
Melissa Hood (Gymnastics): As someone who always tries to jump in with a solution or answer, I have learned to WAIT (Why Am I Talking) to provide space to let my mentee brainstorm and problem-solve on her own. This simple idea was something that I needed a reminder of and I’m already seeing a big impact on my working relationship with my mentee and with the athletes I coach.
Hitanya Bommu (Gymnastics): Something I learned from my mentor was that being positive and open-minded with an athlete that is generally really shy and doesn’t want to participate or sometimes are just very energetic and want to do their own things can be very helpful in them becoming a better gymnast as positive words and actions can change their mindset on what they should do!
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