A huge amount of work has gone in behind the scenes to create a range of resources that will help support parents on their journey supporting their daughters.

All parents involved in the pathway will be given access to a customised website platform including all the exclusive content created here at WWPIS alongside specific content from the Lioness Player Pathway.

They will also be given a customised copy of ‘Sports Performance Parenting’ which will help to enhance the delivery of both live and virtual sessions that will be running across the age groups.

Live sessions get underway this month in Gloucester and York and we are very much looking forward to meeting over 100 parents across both the North and the South of the country.

CEO Gordon MacLelland said, ‘This is such an exciting project and I am delighted that we are working with the FA to offer support across the Lioness Player Pathway. We all need support in creating the best environments for our young people to thrive and this will add another strand to the outstanding work already taking place. We are committed to working alongside parents and harnessing feedback along the way to help make this the best and most impactful parent programme in women’s football in the world. This can only happen through collaboration, the sharing of ideas from multiple departments and an expertise in understanding the realities of being a sports parent in such a unique environment.’

Vicky Cheshire, Player Education & Lifestyle Lead (England Women’s Teams) at The Football Association, added ‘We’re excited to partner with WWPIS to build on the fantastic work across the Lioness Player Pathway. By collaborating, sharing ideas, and understanding the realities of being a sports parent, we’re providing an extra layer of support to help parents navigate and actively support their daughters’ football journey.’

Work has been going on behind the scenes for several months to help launch a partnership that it is hoped can be the most impactful across the entire organisation.

Workshops and webinars will be delivered on an annual basis to management, coaches, parents and young players across all levels of the club.

Every parent and coach within the club will be given access to a customised WWPIS/Cincinnati United Platform whilst the new intake of Under 8’s will be given their copy of ‘Our Sporting Journey’, an exciting resource for them to work through as they immerse themselves in the world of soccer.

Sports Performance Parenting is a global bestseller supporting those parents of competitive young athletes looking to help their young people fulfil their potential both in and out of their sport.

Cincinnati United have also created their own version of this book and see it as an integral part of supporting their families alongside the live workshops and webinars that they will be given access to.

CEO WWPIS Gordon MacLelland said, ‘This is such an exciting partnership for us. High quality relationships in sporting environments between management, coaches, parents and young players can be difficult to achieve particularly with the wide range of motivations from different parties.

They do not happen by chance by just providing some resources for them either. This whole package of support helping to align messaging and drive some dynamic change within the context of the club is such an inspiring thing to be a part of.’

Hugh Seyfarth, Director of Coaching, Cincinnati United said, ‘Working with Gordon and WWPIS is an absolute game-changer for our club. Gordon truly understands the complexities of the youth sports environment and offers real-world tools that bring coaches and parents onto the same team. When we all work better together—coaches, parents, and the club—the biggest winner is always the player. That’s what this partnership is all about.’

Following a highly successful session with club staff, coaches and parents in 2024, the coming months will see the first phase of the project initially rolled out in the performance pathway.

A range of sessions will be delivered to both parents and coaches across the country as both organisations look to help support everyone in working effectively together to help young people fulfil their potential both in and out of the sport.

All parents and coaches involved in the programmes will also be given access to a customised WWPIS platform.

This includes all the unique content in the Parent Zone, Coaches Corner and Holistic Development Area.

CEO Gordon MacLelland said, ‘This is another hugely exciting partnership for us. Our work in gymnastics continue to spread across the globe, it is a sport we know well and this represents a huge opportunity for us to once again influence and support all of those involved in making environments and relationships within programmes the best that they possibly can be to benefit young performers.’

This initiative is a fantastic addition to Gymnastics Canada, said Dr. Kacey Neely, Director of Safe Sport at Gymnastics Canada. “We recognize the vital role parents play in the gymnastics journey and providing them with education and resources from WWPIS is a positive step toward a safer and stronger gymnastics culture. We are confident this will mark the beginning of a long and impactful partnership.”

The aim is to support the organisation, coaches, parents and players to work effectively together so that young players fulfil their potential both in and out of their sport.

In phase one of the project, WWPIS and Ulster Rugby will work together to deliver several specifically targeted and designed workshops over the next year in the performance environment for both parents and coaches.

Gordon MacLelland, CEO of Working with Parents in Sport, said: “I am extremely excited to be working alongside Ulster Rugby to help support them in creating the best possible environment for young players. Everyone has a role to play in this and we are looking forward to working with and learning from key stakeholders to ensure we create the most supportive programmes possible.”

Budge Pountney, Rugby Development Officer at Ulster Rugby said, “Working with Parents in Sport already have established partnerships in the world of rugby with Leinster Rugby, Leicester Tigers and Bath Rugby. We are very pleased to add Working with Parents in Sport as part of our holistic approach to creating a rounded athlete within our sport.”

Currently, entering its third year the partnership has seen a number of workshops delivered to management, coaches and parents through both live and virtual events.

This year will see all parents and coaches within the pathway programme be given access to a customised WWPIS and Badminton England portal.

The portal is world leading in this space with contributions from expert practitioners, guest
bloggers, sports psychologists, well-being practitioners, coaches, sports parents, as well as
the team at WWPIS helping to provide authentic content to support the knowledge and
relationships between the organisation, coaches, parents, and young athletes.

CEO WWPIS Gordon MacLelland said, ‘We are proud of the impact this partnership has had
to date and are looking forward to moving this on further over the next 12 months. During
the workshop sessions to date there have been some fantastic and honest conversations
with the parents throughout the age groups and this has helped tailor the support that we
are able to give them. The portal will continue to strengthen the relationships between all
involved in the pathway programme.’

Programme Manager Nikki Tarrant added, ‘We are excited to continue our partnership with
WWPIS for another year and expanding on the provision of support available in this space.
Workshops have been well received across the Programme and have given the opportunity
for all groups engaged in these, to discuss, challenge and reflect on some of the key topics
that crop up when having a talented young individual competing within Performance
Pathway. We are committed to continuing to support individuals as best we can on their
journey and this is an example of that, which includes the key support network that
surrounds these young players.’

Sessions will be delivered to both the girls and boys programmes to help support parents with their journey of being a sporting parent to a young person showing lots of potential.

All parents and coaches in the performance programmes have been given access to a customised Leinster rugby platform which includes all of the exclusive WWPIS content featuring over 250 blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics.

CEO WWPIS Gordon MacLelland said, ‘This is such a wonderful partnership for us with one of the leading brands in world rugby. We are really excited to have turned our focus to how we can support the performance programmes this season and already the turn out to live sessions, the quality of engagement and the number of parents using the website platform suggests that this has been a really positive move, welcomed by all.

This is just the beginning however, with plenty of scope for development in the future.’

Support is not just limited to the performance pathway. Over the last few seasons we have been working extensively with Leinster Rugby supporting their work with parents and coaches at both club and community level and this season now working within the performance pathway.

A number of Leinster Rugby staff have been trained to deliver sessions in clubs and communities across the province whilst we have run a number of sessions for coaches.

Also available for purchase for clubs and parents is the ‘Our Sporting Journey’ series for Under 7 and Under 9 players incorporating two playing seasons of rugby.

The ‘Our Sporting Journey’ is a series of interactive books for children, putting them at the heart of the sporting experience, allowing them to have plenty of fun, grow as people both on and off the field and immerse themselves in their sporting experience as they progress through their sporting journey.

The books all have plenty of activities for children, encourage positive interaction between children and their parents, require plenty of parental involvement whether that be in having positive conversations, playing in the garden or helping to stick in the pictures that will allow everyone to build up a memory book that will last a lifetime.

Leinster Rugby’s Coach and Player Development Manager, Declan O’Brien commented, ‘Building relationships, respect and trust with our players, parents and coaches across the province is the foundation to building quality sustainable environments within Leinster.

We believe our partnership with WWPIS will encourage and develop a sense of purpose and unity within the rugby community. Everyone’s contribution and support in local schools and clubs is vital to meet the challenges of the future and the specialist skills of an organisation such as WWPIS can only add value to the development of players, parents, and coaches.’

We are part of the ‘team behind the athlete’ – which also includes the coach, manager, doctor or physio, and maybe even a nutritionist, psychologist or strength and conditioning coach. This team is often referred to as the Athlete Support Personnel (or ASP) who collectively play a role in making a young person’s sporting experience a positive one.

In the world of sport, we also talk about ‘key influencers’ – parents certainly top the list of most influential role. They shape a young person’s experience of sport right from the point where the decisions are made on which after-school clubs or local sporting activities they attend – with the focus being on what is the child going to enjoy doing?

Further down the line, when that young person potentially starts to identify as a young sportsperson, the list of key influencers grows but parents will remain critical to their experience. Not least, they will remain the eyes and ears of their young sportsperson, guiding them to make informed decisions as they equally try to encourage independence, responsibility and ownership as part of the process of growing up.

Yet research by UKAD found that, despite feeling highly motivated to learn and support their child through all stages of the athlete pathway, parents often lack the confidence to effectively support their child when it comes to anti-doping. Read more on these findings here: Why Parents Matter in Clean Sport.

Underpinning this parental support should be the development of a mindset that believes in winning well as opposed to winning at all costs. This mindset sets the tone for a positive environment for their continued participation in sport, whilst acknowledging responsibilities to adhere to the rules that govern sport. This also includes creating a culture of a level playing field for all, promoting Passion, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Enjoyment to their young sportsperson.

Essentially, any person assuming the role of parent should be able to define their own values and relate these to their own participation in sporting activities and/or their support of their young person.

Follow these top tips to help you do your best to help them do their best:

• Set their moral compass

Encourage hard work, commitment and taking personal responsibility – and remind them of the consequences of being caught cheating. These values set the foundation for young sportspeople to take part in sport and maintain that positive experience, regardless of the challenges they may face along the way. Education also has its footing in these values and learning how to compete clean is no different.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) has an education programme dedicated to instilling these values in all young athletes, aptly named ‘100% me’ and is underpinned by an ethos that we want all athletes to be able to stand on the podium and state that it was all ‘100% me’. This ambition for clean sport is upheld globally by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

• Recognise when they are vulnerable

Being a great athlete takes a long time – allow them to enjoy the highs and lows of the journey and keep things in perspective. Remind them they are still developing physically, mentally and socially. It is often hard to distinguish between changes associated with ‘growing up’ and those which may be indicative of something more untoward. Accepting that there may be moments of vulnerability as your child develops into their own independent being is also critical to recognising when they may be susceptible to making an ill-informed decision due to external factors and/or other key influencers. For example, when away at boarding school or university, you will need to be able to recognise some signs of doping-related behaviours and be able to support or help them to seek support as necessary.

• Be Informed

Model and encourage appropriate behaviour and decision-making, on everything from fuelling and recovery to managing injuries and coping with the maturation process. There are some rules that also apply to you as parents in terms of maybe knowingly providing them with a supplement which contains a banned substance, for example, or tampering in any part of the process. You need to understand what this means and how it impacts on you and your young sportsperson, so UKAD’s Clean Sport Essentials Guide for Parents & Carers of Young Athletes should answer many of your questions.

• Understand the concept of Strict Liability

Ensure your young sportsperson is fully aware of their anti-doping responsibilities as an athlete. Fundamentally, athletes are ‘solely responsible for anything they use, attempt to use or is found in their system, regardless of how it got there and whether they had the intention to cheat or not’. You may be surprised to learn that the greatest risk to a clean athlete is the unintentional or accidental use of a prohibited substance. This may be present in medication or a supplement product they are taking. Under anti-doping rules, even if an athlete uses a prohibited substance accidentally, the consequences may be the same as if the action had been deliberate.

• Check everything

Engage with your doctor and/or pharmacist and use GlobalDRO to check any prescribed or over-the-counter medications are safe to take. Remind your child to tell any healthcare professional that they are an athlete and have to abide by anti-doping rules. Start with your medicine cabinet at home – do any of those contain banned substances? Practice using Global DRO together by checking all tablets and medicines at home.

• Maintain records

Keep a list of all medication your child is taking on your phone, in your diary or in UKAD’s Clean Sport app[i] – this app is available to all athletes and parents, providing current information and advice regarding anti-doping in the UK. You just need to select the National Governing Body (NGB) you are affiliated with in order to receive specific and relevant information. There are sections in the app dedicated to medications, supplements, testing, athlete rights and responsibilities… (and more!)

• Food First

Promote a balanced diet and positive lifestyle choices. Even where a supplement is deemed necessary by a medical professional (doctor or nutritionist), for iron deficiency for example, there is no guarantee that any supplement is free from prohibited substances. Always assess the need, the risk and the consequences before making any decisions. Unintentional doping can have just as severe consequences. Where a supplement is deemed necessary, minimise the risk of contamination from banned substances by checking they are batch-tested.

• Know what happens at a test

Ensure you and your child are familiar with the testing procedure; a video is available here on the UKAD website. If your young sportsperson might be eligible for testing, then more information is available on the Clean Sport app or in the Clean Sport Essentials guide for Parents & Carers already mentioned. These resources will guide them (and you!) through what to expect, what to know and do in advance and the provisions in place for those athletes under 18 years of age.

Are you keen to learn more?

Visit UKAD’s Clean Sport Hub and sign up for the Introduction to Clean Sport eLearning course, which will further educate you as part of that support team on how to support your young sportsperson on their clean sport journey. Many parents like you have undertaken the programme and found it beneficial in being able to provide the right advice and guidance.

For further information on any of the information given here, please visit www.ukad.org.uk or contact UKAD directly with any queries – ukad@ukadorg.uk

This blog was written by Claire Lane, Clean Sport Education Officer with UK Anti-Doping

——————————————————————————————————————————-

[i] Where the term ‘parent’ is used, this reflects all those assuming the role of parent, guardian or carer of a young person

[ii] Available through Apple or Google Play

——————————————————————————————————————————-

WWPIS have been working with Bath Rugby Parents sporadically over the last few seasons delivering a number of live and virtual workshops.

CEO Gordon MacLelland delivered two workshops – firstly to the U18 parents, some of whom he had previously met when they first arrived as academy parents at U15 level prior to Covid.  This was great fun and allowed everyone to catch up, share a few thoughts and reflections on their sports parenting journey so far and to look at the season ahead.

The second session for the new U16 cohort saw the first in a series of live workshops and webinars that will be taking place for parents over the next few seasons that will take them on the sporting journey alongside their children.

An introduction to performance sports parenting allowed for plenty of conversations, self-reflection and kicked the new programme off with some real momentum.

The new programme provides consistency and continuity in supporting parents as they progress through the academy journey.

Created by Gordon MacLelland and Sarah Murray (Performance Edge) the programme consists of the following workshops.