Loughborough Lightning
BO WESTCOMBE-EVANS ON PERIODS AND GENDER INEQUALITY IN COACHING
When she is not busy scoring tries on the wing for Loughborough Lightning, Bo Westcombe-Evans is tackling gender equality in coaching... writes Elise Hamersley
The 21-year-old rising star is in the final year of her Sports Management degree at Loughborough University and has focused her dissertation on the barriers faced by women in the world of sports coaching.
It was not until Westcombe-Evans moved to the East Midlands for her studies that she trained under her first female coach, Katie Trevarthen something the young flyer hopes her own work can help put right.
“I feel like the lack of female coaches in women’s rugby is prominent,” she explained. “The research I’ve done so far is really interesting.
“One of the reasons I’ve been looking into is role models – there just aren’t many role model coaches out there for girls. If you join a club, you’re more than likely going to have a male coach.”
“Katie is my BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sports) coach – she’s the only female coach I’ve ever had. I think with a female coach you’re just more likely to open up about certain things.
“There’s a lot of stuff menstrual cycle wise that the male coaches might not understand.”
After her first taste of rugby at hometown club Old Albanians, the St Albans native progressed through the Saracens Centre of Excellence before making the move north.
The Lightning set up prides itself on recognising the nuances in training female athletes and Westcombe-Evans has experienced the positive benefits of such an environment.
“We have to fill out a wellness form every morning before training and game days and within that there’s a period tracker and you put where you are in your menstrual cycle,” she added.
“If you’ve got any period pains or any problems that would impact you in training that day, a strength and conditioning coach will come and talk to you or drop you a message and advise on if there’s anything you shouldn’t do.
“There’s been times when I’ve flagged something, and they’ve checked in and said maybe don’t squat today for example.
“Where you are in your cycle massively impacts your performance. For me the day I start my period I’m very fatigued and in a lot of pain and training is very difficult.
“It’s really important for coaches to understand that it impacts players’ ability and it’s an important topic that Lightning care about.”
Westcombe-Evans made her PWR debut at just 19-years-old and after scoring two tries in the recent Leicestershire derby at Welford Road, she credits the pathway between the university and Lightning with her rocketing progression.
“The dynamic is great here, especially for rugby,” she said. “A lot of uni girls play for Lightning and BUCS.
“[Lightning Head Coach] Nathan [Smith] oversees BUCS as well so player development-wise, if you’re not getting game time in the Premiership, he can put you down in BUCS and he watches those games.
“We all train in the same area, Lightning’s club room is the BUCS club room. We’re all in the same environment all the time and sometimes we’ll train against each other. It’s great development for the BUCS girls and great for us to get reps in against them.
“It’s always quite intimidating because you want to look good in front of them, you want to be able to make a name for yourself.
“Being around such great players makes me perform better; knowing I’ve got the likes of Helena Rowland next to me, it makes me want to be a better player.”
“They really have helped with my development over the past couple of years here.”
Westcombe-Evans' pair of tries in front of the TNT cameras helped Lightning to their first win of the season, with derby victory the perfect remedy to opening day defeat to Saracens.
This sublime solo effort is your Try of the Week winner for Round 3 🤌
— Premiership Women's Rugby (@ThePWR) December 5, 2023
⚡️ Bo Westcombe-Evans, @LightningRugby #PWR | @allianzuknews pic.twitter.com/nRdDPrWgtj
And the 21-year-old is confident that result is just the start for Lightning under Smith and his new coaching team thanks to their fresh identity this term.
“It was a huge moment. It’s always good to score a try, especially when it’s being live streamed!” she said. “I’ve not been on TNT Sport before so it was very surreal. It was great for Lightning to get the win too; it was very needed.
“I think it’s important that we show we aren’t the same team as last season and that we’re here to compete with the best and we are able to.
“We’re not a team that should be at the bottom of the league, we are a very strong group and I feel like a lot of teams don’t look at us like that.
“Nathan has put a big emphasis on earning respect from each other on the pitch and that’s driven us on to make sure we’re putting everything out there.
“This season we want to prove to other teams that this isn’t the same Lightning and we’re going to score in the top half of the table.”
Partners
Close
Join the PWR
Sign-up to receive all the latest updates and news from the world‘s premier women‘s club rugby competition.
