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How to Coach When You’re Neurodivergent and Female

Tackling bias, imposter syndrome, and standing out in a world that doesn’t always expect you to belong there. There’s a very specific experience that comes with being both neurodivergent and a woman in sport. It’s walking onto a pitch already feeling like you have to prove yourself before you’ve even blown the whistle. It’s second-guessing whether you’re “too loud,” “too emotional,” “too disorganised,” or just…  too much . And if you’ve got ADHD? Your brain helpfully turns those thoughts into a full stadium announcement. But here’s what I’ve learned: coaching while neurodivergent and female isn’t a weakness to overcome. It’s a different way of leading and honestly, sport could do with more of it. ⸻ The Invisible Balancing Act Women are often expected to coach in a very specific way: calm, organised, patient, endlessly professional, emotionally available but not  too  emotional, confident but not “bossy.” We don’t get afforded the same expectations as men- it’s sad but it’...
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Building a Team Where Every Brain Belongs: My Journey to Coaching a Neurodivergent-Inclusive Squad

🏉 When I first started coaching rugby, I thought my main job was to teach skills, plan training sessions, and get players match-ready. And sure, that’s part of it – but I quickly realised the heart of coaching isn’t just about drills and game plans. It’s about people. It’s about building a team where every player feels safe to be themselves, including those of us who don’t quite fit the “neurotypical” mould. I say “us” because I’m neurodivergent too. I live with ADHD, which means my brain is constantly buzzing with ideas, distractions, and hyperfocus in equal measure. It also means I’ve felt out of place in a lot of traditional environments. But rugby has always been different for me – it’s a space where I can channel that energy and be unapologetically myself. As a coach, I want to create that same space for every player who walks onto our pitch. What Inclusion Really Means to Me For me, inclusion isn’t a tick-box exercise or a trendy buzzword. It’s making sure that a kid who struggl...
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Coaches Aren’t Robots. We’re Human - and the Pressure to Be “Perfect” Is Breaking Us.

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  Somewhere along the line, coaching stopped being about people and started being about performance. Perfect sessions. Perfect behaviour. Perfect results. Perfect communication. Perfect resilience. And if you slip? If you get tired, frustrated, emotional, overwhelmed, unsure? That’s treated as failure- or worse, weakness. The modern coach is expected to operate like a machine. Always switched on. Always composed. Always motivating. Always learning. Always giving. Never cracking. But coaches are not robots. We’re human beings, and the pressure to be perfect is quietly burning people out. The Myth of the “Ideal Coach” There’s an unspoken image of what a “good coach” looks like: • Calm under all circumstances • Emotionally intelligent 100% of the time • Never reactive • Never unsure • Never affected by external stress • Always positive • Always available That standard isn’t just unrealistic - it’s impossible. Yet coaches are judged against it constantly. By...
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