New program launched to develop more female coaches

AFL Victoria has launched a new program aimed at growing the female coaching pool in community football by helping NAB AFL Auskick coordinators transition to coaching pathways.

The Auskick Coordinator to Coach Program is for women volunteering as coordinators at Auskick centres across the state who are interested in upskilling and obtaining a Level 1 (Foundation Course) coaching qualification.

Applications are open from June 3, with successful applicants to be notified ahead of the program starting in July this year and running through to August. Supported by investment from the Victorian Government for a four-year period, AFL Victoria is aiming to take 25 people through the first year of the program.

Applications can be made via the link here

Program workshops will be delivered by AFL Victoria Coach Developers in different locations across the state on a monthly basis, before an end-of-program event in August to recognise participants’ progress and new qualifications.

Currently, 40 per cent of Auskick Coordinators are female however there is a significant gap between this figure and the number of female football coaches at local club level, with this initiative intended to bridge this gap.

In 2023, there were nearly 12,000 registered community football coaches across Victoria, 900 more than the year prior, however women made up eight per cent of the total.

Australian rules football wants to encourage more women and girls coming into coaching, particularly given the surge in popularity in women and girls football since the inception of AFLW in 2017.

AFL Victoria State Coaching Manager Jennifer Taffs said this initiative will help to grow the presence of females across coaching at all levels of football.

"With 40 per cent of our NAB AFL Auskick Coordinators being female, we see this as a brilliant opportunity to lean in and provide further opportunity for these women to upskill and go through this program which will see them receive their Level 1 (Foundation Course) at the end.

“This will help us to address the drop off in participation rates that we see from female Auskick Coordinators through to football team coaches and grow the overall female coaching talent pool at all levels of community football.

“There are many women who love the game and give a lot to the game but have never been involved in coaching. There are likely many women and girls out there who would make great coaches, they just don’t know it yet. The Auskick Coordinator to Coach program aims to bring more women into coaching.”

Further background

In 2022 the AFL committed more than $5 million in new investment to fund phase one of the 2022 Women and Girls Action Plan, designed to drive participation and representation for women and girls across all aspects of community football from playing to coaching, umpiring and administering.

The action plan has been developed to help achieve the aspirations in participation outlined in the Women's Football Vision, which was released late in 2021 and has a stated objective that the game will strive for equal participation and representation by the end of this decade.

Read more here