Coaching Girls with Confidence: new on-demand course with Albena Branzova

Coaching Girls with Confidence with Albena Branzova

Albena Branzova spent a week with Ireland's young players at the Futures Combine in August. Before she flew home, she sat down with Laura Deeney for over an hour to talk about coaching teenage girls, building confidence and women in coaching. That conversation is now an on-demand course on Helpside. It costs €10 and earns you 200 CPD points.

Watch a preview

These two short clips from the interview give you a feel for how Albena thinks about coaching.

Who is Albena Branzova?

Albena grew up in a basketball family in Bulgaria. In 1991 she was one of the first two women officially released from communist Bulgaria to study and play in the United States. She was later drafted into the WNBA and played professionally for 15 years in nine countries, the last ten of them in the EuroLeague. Along the way she completed a PhD in sport psychology.

Today she works as a mental performance coach and is the creator of Next Play, her approach to helping players reset after a mistake. In August she coached the girls at the Futures Combine and ran a She Coaches clinic for female coaches.

What is in the course

There are six modules built around clips from the interview. Each one has captions, key takeaways and short activities you can take straight to your own team.

• Module 1: From Burgas to the EuroLeague (about 20 minutes). Albena's story, from a gym in Bulgaria to the WNBA, and what a long career taught her about the mental side of the game.
• Module 2: Connecting with Teenage Girls (about 25 minutes). Why 14 to 16 is such a fragile stage, how to be authentic with your players, and how to keep girls in the game.
• Module 3: Next Play: Your Body Language and the Reset (about 25 minutes). The 28 eyes watching you, making Next Play intentional, and giving every player a voice in 15 seconds.
• Module 4: Confidence Comes from Steps (about 30 minutes). The five-minute journal, turning a player's anger into effort with composure, and helping players lead themselves.
• Module 5: What Irish Players Need Next (about 30 minutes). Albena's honest read on Irish players after a week on court, the one thing to start at your next session, and why defence could be our edge.
• Module 6: Women in Coaching: Step Up and Lead (about 25 minutes). Share circles, why women so often wait to be invited, and her message to every female coach in Ireland: go for the head coach job.

You also get the full 69-minute interview and a four-page Coach's Toolkit to print and keep.

Inside the course

The opening screen of Module 3, an activity from Module 2 and one of Albena's lines from Module 3.

How it works

1. Log in to Helpside (or create a free account) and open the course.
2. Pay €10 through the Helpside shop.
3. Work through the six modules at your own pace. Each one ends with a reflection to take back to your own team.
4. Finish all six and 200 CPD points go straight into your Record of Learning.

Who it is for

Anyone who coaches girls, from club underage teams to schools and academies. Module 6 speaks directly to women who coach, or who are thinking about it. There are no prerequisites and you can come back to the clips as often as you like.

Get the course on Helpside for €10

Questions about Helpside or CPD points? Email Niall McDermott, National Learning and Training Manager, at nmcdermott@ireland.basketball.