Coaching Laid Bare Episode 12 with Katie Sadleir

Bird and LJ welcome Katie Sadleir, general manager Women’s Rugby with World Rugby since 2016 and was recognised as one of the top 10 rugby influencers (Rugby World Magazine 2020).

Here are the questions they asked Katie:

• What has been your driving force to keep working at a strategic level?
• What does a typical day look like in your role as World Rugby’s General Manager?
• What has been your greatest moment of change/influence?
• How and why did you become involved in rugby?
• Did your educational journey help you in your passion for sport or was it outside influences that shaped you?
• What have you learnt/taken from your personal participation and experience at a strategic level in other sports?
• What advice could you give to any female’s wanting to hold a position of influence/change within sporting organisations?
• What are your aspirations for women’s rugby over the next five years?
• What has been your greatest challenge in your involvement with women’s rugby?
• Does the development of women in rugby include female coaches as well as players? What plans are there to grow the number of female coaches across the game and how can we support at grassroots level (as local recruitment is normally a players’ mum)?

Katie is a Commonwealth Games medal winner and in 2016 was awarded Sport NZ Life Time Achievement Award for contribution to sport and recreation sector in NZ. Her impressive CV included general manager roles with NZ Academy of Sport and the NZ Sports Foundation.