
BE. Football: Mentoring Programme
The ‘BE. Football: Mentoring Programme’ encourages women, aged 18+, who are actively working or volunteering in football and are wanting to progress their careers to apply to be a mentee of the programme.
The programme aims to build the confidence of participants, to aid their progression in football, whilst developing the skills required to achieve their full potential in their desired role within the game. Mentees can include those who are interested in starting their first job in football or those looking to progress to a more senior role on or off the pitch.
The ‘BE. Football: Mentoring Programme’ saw great success in recent years with over 60% of all those mentees who have come through the programme now working in roles throughout the game in Wales. Since the start of the programme the FAW has also seen an increase in the amount of Women not only applying for roles with the organisation but obtaining the roles also, with 35% of all applicants gaining roles with the FAW in recent years being Women.
The BE. Football: Mentoring Programme entered it’s 3rd year in 2024 with 16 mentees from across the Welsh football family and 16 mentors from across the FAW and the association’s trusted partners taking part.
All mentees were partnered with mentors best suited to their aspirations and field of work. The programme encouraged mentees to have an open line of communication with their mentor. This enabled knowledge sharing of best practice in addition to valuable in-person shadowing and networking opportunities.
Mentees were also given the opportunity to hold discussions with legends of the game such as Rhian Wilkinson current Women’s National Team Head Coach, Alys Carlton current FAW Independent Chair or the Board of Directors, Helen Ward former Cymru International, Laura McAllister current UEFA Vice President and Executive Committee member, in addition to meeting leading women from across the industry. The mentees were also given a Media Training Day at ITV Wales where they had the chance to advance their media skills and try their hand at presenting the news!
“The FAW’s BE. Football mentoring programme is one of the best opportunities I have experienced this year.
“The closing day was great to see how far each mentee had come and witness how much they’ve developed as strong women, both in and outside of the game. Cymru’s Future for Her has never been more exciting.”
Said Bethan Bushen, BE. Football Mentoring Programme Mentee.
The 2024 programme concluded at Dragon Park on the 5th of December with mentees, mentors, FAW board members and partners of the FAW joining to celebrate their journeys and hear more about the confidence, support systems and opportunities they have built over the past 7 months.
Apply
The application window for Year 4 is set to open February 2025. You can register your interest in joining the year 4 2025 programme as a mentee or mentor by emailing PAWB@FAW.Cymru
If you have any questions about the ‘BE. Football: Mentoring Programme’ please get in touch.
