Three international sailing coaches complete IOC’s WISH program

Rose-Lee Numa, who became the first female sailor to represent Papua New Guinea at the Olympics when she competed in the ILCA 6 at Tokyo 2020, was joined by Naca 17 sailor Laura Marimon Giovannetti, and Celia Chisholm Valeur Børresen, a coach with the Dutch Sailing Federation, as part of a group of 28 coaches from 15 sports representing 23 countries. 

Rose-Lee is determined not to be the last sailor from Papua New Guinea and now coaches sailors from Learn to Sail through to competition level. 

Speaking about the WISH program, she said, “It was an intensive week of learning, experiencing, resolving problems and most importantly growing in a fun, positive and safe space. We had an amazing group of facilitators who were great at what they did in the sports industry and the movement of women in sport. I am proud to say as a result, I am more confident, more aware and more open to learning and growing. This is only the beginning of an amazing future of woman in sport.” 

Laura has similar ambitions. As a former competitive Nacra 17 sailor with both Great Britain and Italy, and an engineer, she has experienced both the equality and inequality within high level sport. During her PhD project with the 35th America’s Cup, Laura worked in the design team of the British challenger Land Rover BAR, and now couples her engineering work with international coaching for the Swedish sailing team. 

She said: “I had indeed chosen the Nacra 17 as my Olympic class as I was very interested in the mixed crew. So, for the first time, I was exposed to a really large and inspiring all-female environment. Albeit I have experienced first-hand under-representation, and I really care about and fight for equal rights and pay, during the residential week my eyes were further opened to the extent of much greater gender discrimination in the sport sector in different countries around the world. 

“My experience at the WISH residential week has been both extremely valuable for all the learning gained during the course, and emotionally inspiring on a human level. I have been part, for many experiences during my lifetime, of an under-represented female cohort, from playing different sports as a kid mostly with boys around me, to competing at international level as the only female travelling to places with only male team-mates, to pursuing a career in engineering and STEM education.  

“However, to see how much some of my fellow coaches have gained confidence and resilience in the span of just a single week has been possibly the best outcome of the week, an experience that I will forever cherish!” 

Celia echoed these thoughts. At 23, she is already a Level 3 High Performance Sailing Coach through the Norwegian Sailing Federation and Olympiatoppen (NOC) and coached the Norwegian Sailing Federation iQFOiL team before moving to The Netherlands. She is currently enrolled in an educational skill developing program for young talented coaches at Olympiatoppen and recently became a nurse at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences.  

She said, “The residential week was truly empowering and inspiring. It was a valuable experience to reconnect with my core values and coaching philosophy. Moreover, the opportunity to connect with other coaches was enriching. 

“I particularly appreciated the emphasis on leadership competencies, which is crucial for coaches like us. The focus on self-development resonated with me as it highlighted how we can reflect on our work to better support athletes. 

“I took away a strong sense of urgency to work on my own development as a leader and as an individual. It was truly inspiring, and I valued the opportunity to reconnect with my core values and the initial motivations behind my coaching journey. Additionally, I formed international partnerships for my project, which aims to create a model for athlete development that shifts the focus from results to skill development.  

“This experience has been incredibly enriching and motivating.” 

Rose-Lee, Laura and Celia follow in the footsteps of Greek Olympian Sofia Papadopoulou, the first female coach to complete the WISH Programme, and it is hoped that many more female coaches will rise to the top level of coaching in sailing – and all sports – to create an inclusive environment and provide female role models for the next generation of athletes.  

Paris 2024 is set to be the first Olympic Games with a 50-50 gender split in terms of athlete participation, but female coaches are still less represented than their male counterparts – just 13% of coaches at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games were female, up from 11% at Rio 2016. 

WISH was first organised in 2019 as a pilot and developed in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). It is supported by Olympic Solidarity, ASOIF, and AIOWF, with several International Federations already engaged in projects to increase opportunities and pathways for high performance women coaches.