WA is building up a coaching storm with women taking up the opportunity to get involved with high level coaching. Nicole Graves, pictured, was the first AFL Level 3 accredited female coach in the whole of Australia and is very generous with her time, conducting clinics and sharing her skills and knowledge with other keen young male and female coaches.
More recently, the South West institute of Technology in Bunbury began proudly hosting three female lecturers who have just achieved their AFL Level 2 coaching accreditation. Deb Andrews, Michelle Harris and Tash Grosse are sport development lecturers who saw the opportunity to further their coaching skills.
All three women are involved in coaching the South West Sirens football team and will be attending the National Coaching conference in Sydney in mid February. Michelle Harris is the 2012 State 18 women’s coach and has committed to a rigorous travelling schedule coaching the players in Perth twice a week in the lead up to the Nationals in Adelaide in May.
Ms Andrew said it was important to dedicate time to female football as a rapidly emerging sport. Ms Grosse said that the accreditation also allowed them to coach boys football teams and gave them the skills as lecturers to pass on to their students.
The Institute now has three out of eight female lecturers who have their Level 2 Coaching Accreditation. Ms Grosse said the sport development course was great for those people who wanted to learn about all facets of the game, not just playing.
Another female lecturer from Edith Cowan University in Bunbury, Joan Strickwerda-Brown, also has her Level 2 AFL Coaching Accreditation. So within the radius of 100m in a small South West country town of WA there are no fewer than four female AFL Level 2 accredited coaches. This is the best of any region in Australia.
