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.’

This is the first of several partnerships that we will be announcing in the world of aquatics, and we are excited to build on some of the work that we have already done within the sport supporting clubs, coaches and parents.

The first phase of the project will see sessions delivered to both junior and senior sets of parents looking at how we can best support young swimmers to fulfil their potential both in and out of the pool and the whole club being given access to a customised WWPIS platform.

Gordon MacLelland (CEO WWPIS) said, ‘This is an exciting time for us in the world of aquatics as we see an ever-increasing number of organisations reaching out to us to work together. The commitment that parents and young people bring to the sport means that any support that we can give them to enhance that journey is always very well received. This partnership with Camden Swimming will allow us to work cohesively with the club to have maximum impact in the years ahead.’

Head Coach at Camden Swimming Adam Taylor said, ‘Collaborating with WWPIS, enables CSCSC to expand our provision for parental engagement through a series of workshops that will add huge value to all involved. The information shared and knowledge gained will have a positive impact on our members as they navigate their way through their own swimming journey’s . We look forward to developing this partnership for many years to come.’

During the first year of the project sessions will be run for club management, coaches and parents at all different levels of the sport. Some of these will be virtual whilst CEO Gordon MacLelland will be speaking live at a couple of the North East Super Camps.

Part of the project also sees a club pilot where sessions will be delivered on the ground within a club utilising the WWPIS expertise alongside providing a range of customised resources for the whole club community.

Ambitious plans are already in place for 2026 after we evaluate the first year of the project and where it can be taken to maximise the impact that it has on all stakeholders involved in aquatics in the region to help all of us work together to help young people fulfil their potential both in and out of the sport.

CEO Gordon MacLelland said, ‘This is such a positive project to be involved in. I have always believed that it is the people that you work with that help bring visions into reality and make meaningful change. The leadership of Louise Graham has been instrumental in that and we are really looking forward to seeing where this project takes us……’

Head of Aquatics at Swim England North East, Louise Graham, added, ‘It’s great to be working with Gordon and his team, they are the industry leaders in this field and our aquatics community can access all of this year’s activities for free. We are really passionate about supporting our members and their families by investing in this project as part of our new strategy.”

WWPIS have extensive experience of working across the world with sporting programmes from grassroots level all the way through to professional sports teams and Olympic programmes.

Sports Parenting can be one of the most challenging parental journeys, there is no such thing as a perfect sports parent.

There is very rarely a one size fits all approach and yet there are so many things for us to navigate as parents in order to give our young sports people the very best support that we can.

This series of sessions explores the sports parenting journey and the different stages our children will go through.

It provides opportunities for reflection, explores different scenarios you may encounter and offers a range of tools and strategies that parents can experiment with.

We want young people to reach their potential both in and out of their sport and want parents to be able to enjoy it, guiding and encouraging them whilst setting them up for success in whatever walk of life they may end up in.

Our best-selling book can accompany the workshop and webinar series with a number of organisations creating customised versions to share with their parents and coaches.

Further details about the six sessions can be found below:

Performance Sports Parenting – Introduction

The importance of positive role modelling
Positives and challenges of sports parenting
Managing dreams and expectations
Using sport as a vehicle for positive character/life skill development

Normalising the ups and downs of the journey

Understanding potential and avoiding comparisons

Controllables v Uncontrollables
Managing the ‘Car Journey Home’

‘Parent Parent’ or ‘Sporting Parent’ – Striking the balance

Managing the multiple hats
What does a helpful sports parent look like?

What is going on for you?
Spinning Plates
Establishing some consistent values

Passing the baton to our children

Managing Disappointment and avoiding devastation

Managing disappointment

Normalising the reality of the sporting journey
Recognising and managing ‘The Chimp’
No more excuses
Becoming comfortable with failure and disappointment

Reframing the success criteria
Bouncing back together
Avoiding devastation
Home Sweet Home

What’s your lens?

Whose lens is it anyway?
Why does your child play and why may they quit?

How do you effectively motivate your child?
Having high expectations of the right things
Managing your child’s and your own expectations
Can we ever win as parents?

‘Fast Cars, Poor Brakes’ – Sports parenting the teenage brain

The adolescent brain – we have all been there

Understanding the power of the group
Brain development in young people
What behaviours do you find challenging with your child?

Remodelling the brain

Red Brain/Blue Brain
The emotional brain never leaves us

Fast Cars, Poor Brakes

Beyond the Badge – Identity and sport

Start with the end in mind

Difficult conversations

Understanding transitions
Who am I?

What is athletic?
Why does this matter?
Supporting healthy identity – how?

If you would like to find out more about the series or would like to book these for your organisation then please email workingwithparentsinsport@gmail.com.

© WWPIS/Performance Edge 2023

Following the success of last year’s programme where webinars and workshops were delivered to over 30 clubs in the EFL and along with some incredible feedback, the programme will be extending this coming year to include more live days and sessions.

WWPIS also work with a number of Premier League clubs across both the boys and girls’ programmes.

Alongside the workshop and webinar offering to clubs, every academy, parent and coach will have access to a customised WWPIS & League Football Education website platform.

By being a member of the platform, parents, coaches and athletes can access all of the exclusive WWPIS content including blogs, videos, podcasts, expert interviews, webinars and downloadable resources as well as support and information from League Football Education.

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

The Parent Zone

The ‘Parent Zone’ is the ultimate resource for all sporting parents whether your child is involved at grassroots level or in an academy/pathway programme.

The articles section is written exclusively by the team here at WWPIS and covers a wide range of topics from ‘The car journey home’ to ‘Understanding how our children learn.’

There are regular guest blogs from leading practitioners from around the world as well as a video series, helping support parents further on their sports parenting journey.

The ‘Expert View’ series has been a real hit with parents joining us to ask experts for answers to all of their questions around a range of different topics.

‘Meet the Parents’ brings into the home some real life stories around sports parenting from parents going through the experience with their children. Stories include those in grassroots sport all the way up to those who are playing professionally.

‘Dad – it doesn’t help!’ brings an authentic look at life as a sporting parent with plenty of humour written for us by Australian author Mark Macguire, whose son currently plays in a Major League Baseball franchise.

Website Members’ Area – Holistic Development

The ‘Holistic Development’ area provides specialised information on a variety of topics from leading practitioners in their field, completing a 360 degree guide for parents to help provide the best levels of support for their sporting children.

This area is headed by Maimee Titmuss Morris (UK Sports Institute Performance Lifestyle Coach and well-being lead for the World Class Programme with British Gymnastics) and Jane Holden (UK Sports Institute Lifestyle coach and pathway well-being consultant / mental health instructor for TASS).

Website Members’ Area – Coaches Corner

In ‘Coaches Corner’ there are lots of supplementary resources for the book ‘Engage’ to support coaches with their parental engagement strategy. 

Here are a few examples of topics that have been covered:

• What does an ideal parents’ meeting look like?
• Preparing the ground for crucial conversations
• Setting the tone and allowing parental engagement to thrive
• Creating a strategy for effective communication with your parents
• Is your organisation aligned to allow parental engagement to thrive?
• Are parents part of your team or do you leave them on the bench?
• Do you know your players’ parents?
• The playing time conundrum

CEO Gordon MacLelland said, ‘Our work across football has been really well received, not just from our work with parents but also the work we have done with coaches and academy management. Ultimately, we all need to work together to help provide the best possible experiences and environments for young people so they can thrive both on and off the field. The continued growth of our programme with League Football Education will continue to help us to achieve this.

Simon Williams Life Skills Manager LFE said, “We are delighted to build on the partnership with WWPIS and be able to provide more support to the network of parents and carers across EFL academies. It becomes ever clearer that education and support should not start and end with children alone. Parents and carers are an equal part of the experience and guidance on how to manage opportunities and experiences of the academy system needs more exposure. The workshop delivery from WWPIS has received powerful feedback, is having a clear impact and we are now able to accompany this by funding access to the static resource support through the membership area.”

By being a member of WWPIS, parents, coaches and athletes can access all of the exclusive content including blogs, videos, podcasts, expert interviews, webinars and downloadable resources.

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

The Parent Zone

The ‘Parent Zone’ is the ultimate resource for all sporting parents whether your child is involved at grassroots level or in an academy/pathway programme.

The articles section is written exclusively by the team here at WWPIS and covers a wide range of topics from ‘The car journey home’ to ‘Understanding how our children learn.’

There are regular guest blogs from leading practitioners from around the world as well as a video series, helping support parents further on their sports parenting journey.

The ‘Expert View’ series has been a real hit with parents joining us to ask experts for answers to all of their questions around a range of different topics.

‘Meet the Parents’ brings into your home some real life stories around sports parenting from parents going through the experience with their children. Stories include those in grassroots sport all the way up to those who are playing professionally.

‘Dad – it doesn’t help!’ brings an authentic look at life as a sporting parent with plenty of humour written for us by Australian author Mark Macguire, whose son currently plays in a Major League Baseball franchise.

Website Members’ Area – Holistic Development

The ‘Holistic Development’ area provides specialised information on a variety of topics from leading practitioners in their field, completing a 360 degree guide for parents to help provide the best levels of support for their sporting children.

This area is headed by Maimee Titmuss Morris (UK Sports Institute Performance Lifestyle Coach and well-being lead for the World Class Programme with British Gymnastics) and Jane Holden (UK Sports Institute Lifestyle coach and pathway well-being consultant / mental health instructor for TASS).

Website Members’ Area – Coaches Corner

In ‘Coaches Corner’ there are lots of supplementary resources for the book ‘Engage’ to support coaches with their parental engagement strategy. 

Here are a few examples of topics that have been covered:

• What does an ideal parents’ meeting look like?
• Preparing the ground for crucial conversations
• Setting the tone and allowing parental engagement to thrive 
• Creating a strategy for effective communication with your parents
• Is your organisation aligned to allow parental engagement to thrive?
• Are parents part of your team or do you leave them on the bench?
• Do you know your players’ parents?
• The playing time conundrum

CUSTOMISED PLATFORMS

The WWPIS website platform can be fully customised by sporting organisations and is already being used extensively across the world. This includes an area for organisations to add their own specific content for their sport and their membership.

This is allowing sports to resource entire communities ensuring maximum impact on the ground.

Individual membership is available for just £9.99 a year, less than £1 a month, with new content being added on a regular basis.

If you would like to become an individual member today then click here.

If you are interested in finding out more about customising the platform for your sporting organisation then please email workingwithparentsinsport@gmail.com

The Coaching Manual is a resource built for soccer coaches who want to improve their understanding of coaching, find real practical sessions which they can use and accelerate the development of their players by creating a first-class soccer learning environment.

The new partnership will see a customised WWPIS platform being made available to organisations who use the Coaching Manual to support organisations, coaches and parents to work effectively together.

The customised platform also includes the following books:

‘Great Sports Parenting’ for parents of children aged between 5-11

‘Engage’ for coaches on ‘building positive relationships with players’ parents’

‘Two Hats’ providing support  for the parent coach

All of these resources have been adapted for footballing environments.

The Coaching Manual and WWPIS will also schedule a series of workshops and webinars in the near-future to support clubs and coaches who are invested in developing their relationship with players’ parents as well as workshops and webinars to support parents to help their children fulfil their potential both on and off the field.

CEO Gordon MacLelland said, ‘We are extremely excited to be working with the Coaching Manual and providing such a wide range of valuable support for football organisations across the world in a cost effective, sustainable manner. We look forward to seeing the positive impact that we hope this can have across the Coaching Manual community.’

The Coaching Manual’s Head of Product Development, Terry Barton, said: ‘We were already very familiar with the excellent and useful resources that Gordon and WWPIS produce for coaches and parents, so we’re really proud of this partnership. A player’s parent is the most important stakeholder in their child’s soccer journey, so a club’s relationship with parents should not be overlooked. The resources we are making available to the TCM community with this partnership will make it easier to provide a more positive experience for all.’

All clubs, parents and coaches will be given access to a customised Gymnastics  Australia platform which includes all of the exclusive WWPIS content featuring over 250 blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics.

Included in the platform are two of our main resources: Great Sports Parenting and Engage.

Workshops and webinars will be delivered across the country to bring these resources to life and it is hoped that the project will create a real sense of partnership with clubs, coaches and parents working effectively together to create the best possible environments for young gymnasts, putting them at the heart of the sporting experience.

Also available for purchase for clubs and parents is the ‘Our Sporting Journey’ series for Under 5, Under 7 and Under 9  gymnasts which incorporate two gymnastic years in each book.

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.

Gymnastics Australia, General Manager, Member Services, Bradley Low said the partnership is yet another important step in the organisation’s ongoing commitment to ensuring members can safely enjoy their sport.

 ‘With 97.95% of our national membership under the age of 18, Gymnastics Australia is excited to partner with Working with Parents in Sport, an organisation that aims to empower clubs, coaches and parents to work together to support and encourage a safe and welcoming environment for young people,’ said Low.

Gordon MacLelland(CEO of WWPIS) said,

‘It is really exciting to be working with Gymnastic Australia and see the passion and determination shown by the National Governing Body to create the best possible environments for young gymnasts and their support networks. We are looking forward to being part of this incredible project and can’t wait to see the positive impact it has on the whole sport over the coming years.’

All parents, coaches and parent coaches will be given access to a customised Leinster rugby platform which includes all of the exclusive WWPIS content featuring over 250 blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics.

Included in the platform are our three main resources Great Sports Parenting, Engage and Two Hats.

Workshops will be delivered across the province by the rugby community officers to bring these resources to life and it is hoped that the project will create a real sense of partnership with clubs, coaches and parents working effectively together to create the best possible environments for young players, putting them at the heart of the sporting experience.

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 have no doubt that we will build and forge stronger relationships throughout Leinster’s rugby community with the rollout of this platform.”

Gordon MacLelland(CEO of WWPIS) said, ‘It is really exciting to be working with such an amazing organisation and brand that is recognised all over the rugby world for what it achieves both on and off the pitch. This partnership will further enhance the outstanding work already going on within the province and we are not finished yet as we will be looking to enhance the programme even further over the coming seasons.’