The yachting coach was one of 20 named to one of two new projects looking to boost representation of women in high performance leadership and coaching positions.
High Performance Sport New Zealand launched the projects, which it is investing $2.7 million in, earlier this week.
Armstrong's work for Yachting New Zealand involves trips Christchurch while she coaches on a voluntary basis in Dunedin.
Armstrong, who represented New Zealand and Australia at the Olympics and won gold in sailing’s 470 class with Australia in 2000, will receive a $15,000 scholarship over 18 months.
She will also connect with 11 other coaches at five different workshops over that time.
Yesterday had been the official start of the programme and she was excited to continue.
‘‘I’ve been involved with Yachting New Zealand for the last couple of years coaching some of the youth teams,’’ she said.
‘‘It just kind of formalises their commitment to me and my commitment to them.
‘‘It creates a few more opportunities to be involved in the coaching, but also in the planning and debriefing and that kind of side.
‘‘It’s going to be much more interesting and I’ll be able to have more input in the programme.’’
She finds it rewarding to see people developing quickly.
While she would not close the door on moving up to coaching the Olympic classes, there was a lot more travel involved in that and she was happy where she was for now.
She was excited to work with the Olympic coaches and learn from them, though.
She also said it would be good to connect with the other female coaches to try to learn from them.
The project aimed to boost the under›representation of women in high performance coaching positions.
Only 23 per cent of the 114 carded coaches were women.
Armstrong hoped it would be a stepping stone for women to reach those top coaching positions.
She said it would be good to start the conversation as to why the gap exists and how better to create opportunities for more women, rather than losing the talent completely.
It could be particularly difficult for many once they had retired from sport and had kids.
