SA soccer program aims to boost number of female coaches
A program is trying to attract more women into coaching to match the strong recent growth in women's sport.
Football Federation SA (FFSA) has just held its first female-only Asian Football Confederation C-licence coaching course.
"There's a lot of interest in the women's game from the excellent job the Matildas have done, and certainly at the local level as well, and it cries out as the game's growing for the female coaching base to grow as well," FFSA's John Mundy said.
The C-licence program teaches basic skills and techniques so the coaches are able to work primarily with young players.
"It's part of a two-year project where our focus and priority is female coaching," Mr Mundy said.
"We're looking for some of these girls learning to coach to also be instructors on courses down the track."
Mr Mundy pushed for the course after noticing there were few female coaches in the local Women's National Premier League and no female head coaches for SA's state teams.
"We think we could get to a stage where we even see females coaching the male teams," he said.
"A good coach is a good coach so there's no reason why a female couldn't be coaching a male team, in my view."
The first intake of 10 women included some school teachers interested in coaching.
'Male-dominated industry needs balance'
Program director Cristiano dos Santos Rodrigues, a former Adelaide United striker, said women benefited from the all-female coaching group.
"They talk more about football, they express their knowledge of football a bit more than if they are mixed with men," he said.
"When they are with men they feel a bit intimidated."
Lauren Daniel, a soccer player for 12 years, got involved in the program hoping it might provide a pathway to coaching at national or international level.
"It's quite a male-dominated industry at the moment. I just think it was a lot more relaxed having just females there and some friends as well," the Adelaide teacher said.
"[It's] good to get more females involved so that young people can look up and realise women can be a coach and can be really good coaches as well."
The Matildas have been coached by a woman just once in their 40-year history, when Hesterine de Reus from the Netherlands spent 15 months in the job.
There are two female head coaches among the nine W-League teams — Heather Garriock at Canberra United and Brisbane's Mel Andreatta, this year's W-League premiership coach.
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ABC .net
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