Judy Murray is no stranger to succeeding against the odds; after all, she spent the entirety of her life as a tennis coach heavily outnumbered by male coaches.
And it’s her personal experience as being one of only a select few females coaching at the highest level which has prompted her to set up her new initiative.
Murray has launched ‘Learn to Lead’, which aims to equip and empower young girls to become Scotland’s next generation of sporting leaders and it follows on from her ‘Miss Hits’ programme, which, for over a decade, has been working to increase the number of women and girls involved in tennis.
Murray has long been a believer that the best way to change things is to target kids in an attempt to form habits and foster enthusiasm at a young age.
‘Learn to Lead’ is in this mould and by aiming the programme at primary school girls, Murray is hopeful of making a meaningful difference in terms of the number of girls who become, and remain, involved in all areas of tennis.
“This programme is very simple, but it’s done well - it’ll develop leadership skills in girls aged between 10 and 12 and teach them how to deliver to younger girls,” Murray explains.
“Initially, 20 schools will be involved but the schools have to be in close proximity to a tennis club or tennis courts because we have to have an exit strategy for the girls and somewhere they can go to progress.
“We're not necessarily looking for them all to become top-level coaches, we're just wanting to keep them involved in tennis.”
Murray was prompted to develop this initiative off the back of the figures released by Women in Sport which found that 1.3 million teenage girls who had previously considered themselves ‘sporty’ drop out of exercise and activity when they leave primary school.
It is, says Murray, a shocking statistic and it’s a trend that, she believes, cannot be allowed to continue.
“The Women in Sport data is horrific and when I saw it I thought we really need to look at solutions instead of just keeping talking,” she says.
“A lot of the drop-out is to do with girls growing up so quickly these days - there’s a loss of confidence and they become more aware of their body image around 11, 12 years old now so by developing something that empowers girls through the primary years and helping them go into high school with more confidence and a greater enjoyment of sport can only be a good thing.
“And the leadership angle in this programme is driven by my own experience of being a female in a very male-dominated world.”
Murray is keen to emphasise to young girls that becoming a professional tennis player is not the only way to become and remain involved in the sport.
And while so many roles within sport as a whole are currently occupied by men, Murray remains optimistic that, with the right support and strategies, this can change.
“We need to plant the seed earlier in girls that whether you play sport to a good level or not, there are plenty of jobs for you,” she says.
“There has to be a better understanding of how important it is to have women in the sporting workforce in all areas and by that I mean physios, trainers, event management and everything in-between.
“With this programme, it’s about starting small but dreaming big because we have to aim towards full equality in coaching and leadership.
“I do think we can get to full equality eventually but it's about having more women in leadership positions in sport because men see the world with a male lens and that doesn't help us.
“It's about creating opportunity and if this programme can start to plant seeds, bear fruit at a young age and show girls how they can be the boss by giving them a little bit of responsibility then great.”
Murray was, unsurprisingly, an interested observer in Andy Murray’s coaching partnership with Novak Djokovic, which began last November and ended abruptly last month after just six months together.
Andy’s foray into the coaching ranks wasn’t particularly unexpected but few had anticipated his first coaching job to be with the greatest player of all time.
Results-wise, the partnership was perhaps not as fruitful as either would have liked but few doubt that Andy has the skills and knowledge it takes to be a top-level coach.
Judy is in complete agreement that Andy has the tools to be an excellent coach and while she’s reluctant to make any predictions as to her son’s next move, she seems fairly certain that he isn’t champing at the bit to return to the coaching world in the near future.
“Andy had just retired and wasn't looking to go into coaching but he stepped in because Novak asked him. When they joined-up, I was certainly interested to see how he got on being on the other side of things and realising how stressful it can be,” she says.
“I don't think he's ready to jump straight back into coaching, though, because the tennis circuit is relentless.
“I can see him doing a consultant type role with young players and he's already done a lot of mentoring with the British players on the men's side who are coming through but I can't see him being a full-time tennis coach.
“There's more to life than jumping straight back into the tennis rat race after nearly 20 years as a player. I don't think he'll necessarily want to jump back onto that merry-go-round - not when you’re someone who’s got four kids to taxi around and you want to get your golf handicap to scratch.
“Whether he does it in the future, I don't know - that’s for him to answer and I actually don't think he knows the answer either but my guess is not right now.”
