Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin hopes to inspire her daughter through her rugby coaching.
Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin had a successful playing career as an international back-row forward, but it as a coach that she hopes to inspire the next generation of Wales players.
Nicholas-McLaughlin is now Wales Under-18s head coach, having progressed through the men’s pathway system with Welsh Colleges, and a lecturer and assistant rugby coach at Coleg y Cwmoedd in the Rhondda Valley.
“Seeing the impact you can have on players, not just on the field but off it too, is the reason I coach,” Nicholas-McLaughlin told World Rugby.
“From here I have realised the need for female role models within the game. I have a daughter and I want her to know she can be anything she wants to be, regardless of gender bias or boundaries.
“It is my hope that seeing me, a female coach, will encourage other girls and women to take up coaching within the community game and also within the elite game.”
Nicholas-McLaughlin now hopes that her involvement in the Gallagher High Performance Academy will increase her understanding of coaching at elite level and of how her peers balance rugby commitments with raising a young family.
“On a personal level I would like to gain an insight into if it is possible to be a good mother and professional coach in the elite game; while also developing an understanding of what support is available for mothers going into coaching and whether they are supported as they need to be, for family to be included and considered,” she said.