Developing the Leader Behind the Head Lacrosse Coach
Creating a development experience shaped by the realities of leading collegiate women’s lacrosse
We are delighted to be underway with the inaugural cohort of the Intercollegiate Womens Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) SPARK Head Coach Development Program— a new learning experience created specifically for coaches of women’s lacrosse across all three NCAA divisions.
SPARK has been developed in partnership with the IWLCA, with e.t.c coaching consultants — Julie Muller and Sarah McQuade — leading the program design and delivery, supported by digital learning partner MiMentor.
Together, we have created a learning journey grounded in the realities of stepping into and growing within the head coaching role.
Becoming a head coach brings new responsibilities, relationships, expectations and pressures. It asks coaches not only to think differently about their programs, but to continue evolving how they lead themselves and others.
SPARK creates intentional space for coaches to do exactly that — to better understand themselves as leaders, make sense of what the role is asking of them and develop their capacity to lead their people and programs well.
Designed With Head Coaches, for Head Coaches
SPARK did not begin with a predetermined collection of leadership topics.
It began by listening.
The development of the program involved hearing directly from IWLCA head coaches across Divisions I, II and III about the realities of their roles — the challenges they encounter, the responsibilities they carry, the relationships they navigate and the areas in which they want to continue growing.
Those voices became the starting point for a deliberate process of analysis, testing and co-creation, ultimately informing the SPARK Leadership Capability Framework and the development experience being brought to life around it.
The result is something genuinely bespoke: a program grounded in the lived experience of head coaches and designed to support meaningful leadership growth.
Rather than asking coaches to adapt themselves to an existing leadership program, we wanted the development experience to start with their world.
Beginning the Journey Together
The cohort came together for the first time in August for the SPARK Welcome Webinar.
As well as introducing the program and the journey ahead, the session created an opportunity for coaches to begin building relationships with others experiencing many of the same transitions, questions and pressures.
That connection matters.
Head coaches spend so much of their time focused on their athletes, staff and programs. SPARK creates a different kind of space — an opportunity to step outside the day-to-day, hear different perspectives, reflect on their own leadership and learn alongside peers from across the collegiate game.
Starting With Leading Self
In September, the cohort moved into the first phase of the SPARK learning journey: Leading Self.
Before turning our attention to culture, people and program development, we wanted to begin with the leader at the center of all of those things.
Through online learning, individual reflection, DiSC and the first Leading Self webinar, coaches have begun exploring who they are as leaders, what changes when they step into the head coaching role, and how their leadership is experienced by the people around them.
The conversation has ranged from identity and self-awareness to the changing demands of the head coaching role and what happens to our leadership when the pressure goes up.
The emphasis isn't on providing a formula for leadership. It is on creating the conditions for coaches to better understand themselves, challenge their thinking and become increasingly intentional about the leader they are becoming.
Supporting the Person Doing the Leading
One of the themes we have already begun to explore is the relationship between sustainable wellbeing and leadership.
Head coaches give an enormous amount to their athletes, staff and programs. But what they have available to give — particularly during the most demanding periods of a season — inevitably shapes what the people around them experience.
Our first phase has encouraged coaches to think about the practices, relationships and resources that help them sustain themselves and continue to lead well.
For us, that reflects an important principle underpinning SPARK:
Supporting the leader and developing the leadership are not separate conversations.
More Than a Series of Webinars
SPARK is intentionally designed as a development journey rather than a collection of standalone learning events.
Across the program, coaches will experience a blend of digital learning, facilitated webinars, self-assessment and reflection, peer learning, individual mentoring and opportunities to connect in person.
Working with MiMentor, the digital learning experience extends development beyond the live webinars, creating opportunities for coaches to continue learning and reflecting in their own time.
Each element plays a part. But the real value comes from how those experiences connect — creating repeated opportunities to learn, reflect, challenge thinking and translate insight into action.
Looking Ahead
Leading Self is only the beginning.
Over the coming months, the cohort will continue exploring different dimensions of head coach leadership, learning independently and together, engaging in individual mentoring and eventually coming together in person at the IWLCA Convention.
The SPARK Leadership Capability Framework will continue to provide an important anchor for that journey, helping keep the development grounded in the leadership realities identified by the coaches themselves.
But for now, we are starting with the most important foundation of all: the person doing the leading.
The question we left the coaches with at the end of our first webinar captures that beautifully:
What are you learning about the leader you are becoming?
Because Leading Self isn't about having yourself figured out.
It's about knowing yourself well enough to recognize what is happening, understand the impact you're having and become increasingly intentional about how you lead.
We are excited to see where this inaugural SPARK cohort takes that learning — and what continues to emerge as the journey unfolds.
For us, SPARK is also an example of what becomes possible when coach development begins with the people, the context and the leadership challenges that really matter — and the learning experience is built from there.
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