Holly French

Netball Development Coach

School of Sport and Exercise Science

Professional and Technical Support Staff

Contact Details

email: h.french@worc.ac.uk
tel: 01905 855000

Holly is passionate about increasing participation in Netball. She has an athlete centred approach to ensure every player develops and reaches their potential in both performance and recreational teams. Holly strives to build a netball community at the University of Worcester, where the culture reflects the values of the University creating a supportive, inclusive and encouraging environment for all players.

Holly has a Masters in Sports Coaching and experience of coaching in Severn Stars and now she is an Assistant Coach within the new Birmingham Panthers franchise. Holly uses this experience to drive performance in talented student athletes and supports them on and off court.

Qualifications

  • England Netball 1st4sport Level 2 Coaching
  • MSc Sports Coaching – University of Worcester
  • BA hons Geography - University of Nottingham
  • UK Anti-Doping Coach Clean
  • UK Coaching Safeguarding
  • British Red Cross Emergency First Aid at Work

Scope of the Role

Internal Responsibilities

  • Responsible for coaching and overseeing the management for all five University BUCS teams, whilst contributing to the development of the UW Performance Sport Teams.
  • Rebranded the UW Netball performance culture throughout the club, coaching, and support staff within UWNetball.
  • Established a new Centre of Excellence initiative to drive both performance and recreational standards and opportunities university-wide.
  • Organise umpires for home games, friendlies and for tournaments throughout the season.
  • Publicise fixtures, events, results and other important information to reach wider audiences on social media.
  • Organise preseason games for both performance athletes and for club athletes, to promote equal opportunities.
  • Maintain the UWNetball budget and equipment inventory.
  • Oversee the UWNetball student committee and ensure it functions effectively.
  • Attract UW Netball club sponsorship and look for opportunities to develop Coaching and Umpiring programme.
  • Develop relationships with external netball clubs and franchises to develop pathway opportunities for student-athletes.
  • Responsible for player recruitment and promoting UWNetball as a Centre of Excellence for netball, utilising Performance Open Days and Netball specific workshops.
  • Develop inclusivity initiatives for wider university engagement, inclusive of mixed gender netball and social netball initiatives.

External Responsibilities

  • Assistant Coach Birmingham Panthers - National Premier League (NPL)U21
    As assistant coach in the new Birmingham Panthers franchise U21, Holly contributes to the development of performance players in the franchise. Holly ensures consistency of netball structures and tactics in both her role in NPL U21 and in University of Worcester performance coaching. This role supports the active development of pathway players in University of Worcester netball.

Industry Background

  • Birmingham Panthers U21 - Assistant Coach
  • Severn Stars U21 - Assistant Coach
  • University of Worcester - Recreational Netball Coach.
  • University of Nottingham - BUCS Coach, Recreational Netball Coach
  • Camp America - Coach, multi sports
  • Malvern College - Netball Coach
  • Samuel Whitbread Community College - Assistant Netball Coach