Project 500 Midweek Mingle

An event to bring female coaches from across Sussex was a huge success as women shared their coaching stories.

25 women came together for the Project 500’s midweek mingle event held at Malmason at Brighton Marina on March 16. 

The theme of the meeting was celebrating successes and supporting each other, linked to International Women’s Day and Project 500’s tenth birthday. 

Project 500 has been running for a decade and the network in Sussex is now moving towards being sustainably run by the female coaches.

The idea is to address the imbalance in the number of male to female coaches, creating a more diverse workforce to drive the growth of female participation in sport.

During the Midweek Mingle the three Project 500 ambassadors  – Danielle Lewis-Collins, Jess Barnes, and Teresa Bennett – shared some of their highs and lows of coaching.

However, it was the owner of Yellowave Beach Volleyball Centre, Katie Mintram, who stole the show, sharing the fact that a Project 500 video created by Active Sussex and featuring Danielle inspired her to become a coach for her daughter’s football team.

“It was the video you put together that inspired me,” she explained to the group. “I thought about the fear of failure and I stepped up.”

She revealed that despite being more than qualified to do the role she felt like she would not be accepted. However she ‘put that aside’ and ‘gave it a go’. 

The discussions and networking created a real buzz about the event, which continued afterwards with lots of interaction on the Sussex Project 500 Facebook group. 

After the event attendees raved about the event with one saying she left ‘inspired and fired up’ while another added: “Absolutely brilliant event! I find it really valuable, especially as I only moved to Sussex during covid so it’s brilliant to engage with more and more clubs. I also really look forward to the day itself as it’s all positive and friendly.”

Planning is already underway for the next Sussex Project 500 Coaching Community meeting which will take place in the summer. 

You can listen to a recent podcast with Active Sussex CEO Sadie Mason MBE talking about the challenges female coaches have faced here.

If you would like to find out more about Project 500 please click here

To find out how Project 500 – a collaborative project run across seven Active Partnerships – has succeeded in its mission to encourage a more diverse coaching workforce click here.

The Sussex Project 500 Champions will be helping to deliver the This Girl Can Sussex webinar Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women’s Leadership in Sport and Physical Activity on Thursday, April 27.