The Female Coach Mentor Program has been established to provide more exposure to high performance environments for the selected female coaches as well as increase the pool of female coaches with the experience and knowledge necessary to coach at the highest level.

In what is the second year of the program after a highly successful inaugural year, the six aspiring female coaches spent three days hearing from a host of speakers and sessions where they were exposed to a high performance environment.

They attended the Westfield Matildas training session at Etihad Stadium on the eve of the match against New Zealand which also consisted of hearing from Matildas Head Coach Alen Stajcic on the preparations for matches, training, and having access to high performance analytics.

The coaches undertaking the six month program in 2016 are:

• Aroon Clansey (ACT)
• Nicola Williams (WA)
• Linda Khamis (NSW)
• Melissa Barbieri (VIC)
• Kat Smith (VIC)
• Kate Cohen (NSW)

They have each been paired up with high calibre mentors to provide a supporting development program which will continue for the next six months. The mentors include Jean Paul De Marigny (Melbourne Victory Assistant Coach), Sean Douglas (National Coach Education at FFA), Mike Cooper (National Advanced Coach Development Manager at FFA), Joe Montemurro (Melbourne City FC Assistant Coach and W-League Head Coach), Ron Smith, Ufuk Talay (Joeys Assistant Coach) and Ante Juric (National Women’s Technical Director & Young Matildas Head Coach).

The coaches will spend the next six months in constant communication with their mentors to develop their skills not only as coaches but also as managers.

“One of the four key principals established within the 2016-2019 Strategic Plan is focused towards FFA being the ‘Leading Organisation for Females in Sport’,” said FFA Head of Football Development, Community and Women’s Football Emma Highwood.

“Programs like this are crucial to the development of our game, the coaches chosen to participate in the program are our top level female coaches, we need to support their growth and development to ensure they reach their full leadership potential.”

“Through the workshop the Australian Institute of Sport partnered us on the program and have provided the coaches with high level coach profiling to better understand their development areas.

“Through that they will work on their development areas with the mentors they have been paired with.”

All coaches must have completed a FFA/AFC ‘C’ License or higher to be eligible.

For information on a range of available coaching courses and resources click here.