The past few weeks have been intense, inspiring and, above all, transformative for the Olympic Solidarity scholarship coaches taking part in the second phase of the new coach accelerator programme, launched at the World Archery Excellence Centre in Lausanne in early October.
This year’s edition ran from 31 October to 14 November 2025 and brought together five participants, including Bermuda’s Trina Roberts – a national coach, secretary general of the archery federation of Bermuda and member of World Archery’s board of justice and ethics.
For the first time, the cohort featured participants from Bermuda, Bhutan, Malawi, New Zealand and Slovenia – and achieved near gender parity, a rare milestone in a coaching landscape where only 17% of national coaches worldwide are women. The Americas and Oceania show some of the widest gaps in coaching representation, making the participation of coaches from Bermuda and New Zealand particularly impactful.
“The course was an outstanding experience,” said Roberts. “It not only enhanced technical knowledge but also fostered a strong sense of community and motivation for all of us, coaches from various regions.”
The group reflected the global distribution of archery development: Europe hosts the largest archery community, while Asia, Africa and Oceania show some of the strongest year-on-year growth. Bringing coaches from five continents together helps bridge these development gaps and build a more cohesive international coaching network.
With coaching identified as the top development need among national federations – 69% of them requesting support, according to World Archery’s 2024/2025 membership survey – this edition carried particular weight.
The immersion at the Excellence Centre directly responds to this global need, equipping emerging coaches with tools to elevate national systems across five continents.
