For International Women's Day, we asked Molly of our Young People's Panel to sit down with her coach Sarah Rowe to share her experiences in a traditionally male-dominated field such as coaching and see how she continues to #BreakTheBias

I am a Youth racing cyclist from the North East of Scotland. My friends and I are a part of a club called Deeside Thistle and we are coached by Sarah Rowe. Sarah is amazing, at Deeside we have one of the biggest female youth sections in the UK and I think it is down to her. Anyone you speak to would agree that she is extremely encouraging and knowledgeable about cycling but also she is very good at keeping girls in sport. Not only is she a great coach but she is also a great cyclist, ex-olympic cyclist actually!

Sarah definitely breaks the bias. Not only just because she is a female coach in a sport that is hugely dominated by men but also in the way that she acts and the approach she takes to coaching. We asked Sarah herself a few questions about how she got into coaching and about the impact she has.

•  How did you get into coaching?

"When I was a rider I had always been interested in the art and science of coaching. I was interested in the various training methods adopted by coaches in different countries and how they manipulated the variables of training to improve rider performance (all perfectly legal). I had a cycling accident which abruptly ended my cycling career and the obvious thing was to throw myself into coaching so that I could help others to get the best from themselves and enjoy the sport as much as I did"

• Did you ever think that your coaching would have as big of an impact as it does and that you would have so many girls involved?

"To be honest I've never really thought about it as my focus was on the riders and not about me. However, it's been brought to my attention recently after lots of people have asked me what we do at DTCC to have so many girls involved in the sport. It appears that we are quite unique at the moment. We haven’t focussed on increasing the number of girls in the club - it's just happened. Why has this happened? - I don’t know but I think it's because we have a great bunch of girls who encourage each other and welcome newcomers to the sport."

• Is it difficult being a female coach surrounded by males coaches?

"I never found it difficult being female but it can be tricky being a mother as so many coach development courses, coaching opportunities or races occur at weekends and evenings which are hard when you have family dependent upon you. When I raced I always competed with the men as there weren’t many women’s races so I was used to being equal to them when racing.

"When I started coaching I still believed that I was equal to them and just approached it the same way. I’ve never found that anyone spoke down to me because I was a female coach but this may have been helped by the fact that I had been a rider previously and they knew that I had practical knowledge as well as theoretical knowledge. I suspect it could be harder for some women who come into coaching without the riding experience2

• Has this affected the way you coach or the way you feel about coaching or cycling in general?

"Not really as I've always enjoyed coaching with male or female peers. I have made some great friends through coaching and have never had an issue with being female. In fact, it can open up opportunities as I get to work with some great female riders."

•  What is your favourite part of coaching?

"My favourite part of coaching is seeing the riders develop after a hard block of training. It isn’t something that the riders will necessarily notice themselves but it's clear for me to see as a coach. Watching some of the riders racing is a delight especially when they’ve been with the club since young - it amazes me how much they have learned and developed"

• What about a challenging part?

"One of the frustrating things for me is when my riders don’t give me feedback in their training diaries after sessions. This makes it very difficult for me to plan ahead to help them develop. I guess the most challenging part for me is not having a local facility where we can do more road coaching and racing to save the riders having to travel so far and to help attract more youngsters to get into cycle racing."

• What advice would you give to girls in cycling?

"You can do anything that the boys can do - and some things you can do better!"

We also asked a few of our friends at Deeside to tell us a bit about Sarah too. We asked them the question, what is one thing that Sarah has helped you to achieve and why do you like having Sarah as a coach? Here are some of the answers:

"I think being coached by Sarah has helped me become a much more confident rider. She has helped me to realise my goals and how I am going to achieve them. She helps me push harder in my training and I feel more confident training with her than all male coaches. - Thea, 14

"Sarah has helped me progress my ability to confidently ride in a bunch. I like having Sarah as a coach as she is always nice and encourages me to do my best. - Zara, 11

"I enjoy having Sarah as a coach because she is relaxed and understanding, she really helps me focus through tough times - Hope, 13

"Sarah has helped me achieve so much I cannot think of one, she is always there to listen to my struggles and help me - Millie, 15

As you can see everyone at Deeside respects and trusts Sarah, what she says is acted on, her advice is taken by the riders, parents and coaches alike. When I joined Deeside I had barely ridden with any other female riders let alone had a female coach and it has been amazing.

From a personal point of view I think Sarah is the reason I am still cycling and the reason I have enjoyed it and improved so much and I think everyone else at Deeside, boys and girls, would tell you the same. Sarah is paving the way for other female coaches to follow her and also teaching female riders to get out there and break the bias too.