Ex-Beachvolleyballer Montagnolli tackles hurdles to grow trainerinnen

While sport still shows a stark shortage of women in leadership roles, former beach‑volleyball star Sara Montagnolli is launching a nationwide drive to flip that picture, confronting entrenched hurdles to bring more trainerinnen into the coaching arena.

Low female representation in sport

Im Sport gibt es verhältnismäßig wenige Frauen in Führungspositionen, a fact underscored by the 2022 Winter Games in China where only ten percent of all coaches were female and by the 2023 Women’s Football World Cup, which featured just twelve women coaches out of thirty‑two.

35by32 project aims for change

Der vom Sportministerium geförderte Initiative 35by32 will bis 2032 35 % der Führungspositionen im Sport mit Frauen besetzen; the name itself is a programme, and it already offers workshops in every Bundesland, from Neusiedl am See to Innsbruck, Linz to Pörtschach am Wörthersee.

More than 50 Frauen have already taken part, and the workshops are designed to bring together coaching talent regardless of prior experience, strengthening them on the path to trainerinnen roles, zunächst im (Beach‑)Volleyball, ihrem Metier.

Overcoming structural hurdles

Ex‑Beachvolleyballerin Sara Montagnolli, a regular TV‑Expertin, recalls the Beachvolleyball‑WM in November when 96 Teams competed but only four Coaches were women, saying, "Es sieht noch aus wie vor 20 Jahren. Früher war meine Logik: Männer waren früher professionell, deshalb gibt’s mehr Männer, die aufhören und Trainer werden. Aber nach 20 Jahren?"

She notes that the pattern repeats across sports and countries, calling it a "systematischer Fehler" and pointing to the need for more female Vorbilder to keep Mädchen in sport longer.

Family responsibilities, low pay and the mental load also impede progress; Montagnolli explains, "Wenn Athletinnen ihre aktive Karriere beenden, werden sie manchmal Mamas und dann ist es in den nächsten Jahren schwierig, als Bundesliga‑Trainerin jedes Wochenende wegzufahren."

Structural issues such as fehlende gezielte Übergänge von der Athletin zur Trainerin, male‑dominated Netzwerke and historic Arbeitsmodelle further block the pipeline, a point she illustrates with the example of Eva Marko sharing a head‑coach position with a man on a weekly basis.

Montagnolli herself balances a role as Performance‑ und Mindset‑Coach in a Dutch topsport program, and together with Katja Stam and Raïsa Schoon she won the Elite16 tournament in Rio de August.

The next workshops are scheduled for 21/22 August in Baden, 4/5 September in Schladming and the finale on 11/12 September in Kitz‑Bühl, signalling that the pilot may expand beyond volleyball and Austria.

By juxtaposing the entrenched scarcity of Frauen in Führungspositionen with the concrete steps of Projekt 35by32, Montagnolli shows that the gap is not inevitable; it can be narrowed if the identified Hürden are systematically loosened.