Next...

So the W League has finished, what next?

Well my role as Head of Women's Football in South Australia will be keeping me busy over the next 9 months before the next W League season.

A Female Football Player Pathway has been developed, with the aim of producing more South Australian Players capable of excelling in the W League and gaining National Team selection. SA has a strong tradition in women's football and has produced the likes of Di Alagich (capped 85 times for Australia), Sharon Black (capped 61 times) and Kristyn Swaffer (capped 30 times). Hopefully the new Female Player Pathway can help produce the next Alagich, Black or Swaffer and the potential is certainly there, I just hope this younger generation are willing to work as hard as their illustrious predecessors!

I am also working with the local women's clubs and coaches to try and improve the overall standard of coaching and competition in the women's game here in South Australia. To this end I have initiated a monthly Women's Coaching Seminar which will focus on different topics each month. The first seminar focused on pre-season training and trying to provide clubs with the ability to do their pre-season conditioning with the ball and in the most specific and progressive way possible. The seminar was well received and the players whose clubs have followed the model have been very positive in their feedback. Unfortunately not every club has been quite so forward thinking and are still resorting to the 'Mount Lofty' Hill runs or the dreaded 'Snake-pit'. To develop the women's game and to do justice to the players who are after all, the lifeblood of the game we have to keep raising the bar and challenging ourselves to do better!

The women's league here in Adelaide has faced considerable issues of late and is shrouded in gossip and rumour currently with at least one club folding, despite winning the cup last year and being league runners-up. There is also a lot of blame being thrown around regarding the league currently, none of which is that helpful. Clubs are being blamed for 'poaching', FFSA is being blamed for favoring clubs or changing the leagues too often and players are being blamed for not showing loyalty or just chasing the dollar each season. In an attempt to get my head around the issues regarding the league I sent out a survey to as many senior female players as possible. Clubs were sent the link to the survey to forward to their players and the link was also posted on the FFSA website so former players could also have their say on the league and the reasons they either stay at clubs or move to new ones or even stop playing the game. Over 200 responses to the survey have currently been received and a number of trends are becoming clear; less than 3% of respondents said they moved clubs for incentives such as free boots or no fees etc, yet around 70% said they chose a club due to the atmosphere at that club and over 60% said they chose a club due to the quality of coaching. A number of good suggestions have been raised in the survey responses and over the next week or so I will be collating all of the responses with the competitions department at FFSA to try and produce a competitive and enjoyable league for the elite players of the region to play in.

On a coaching front, I have now started work with the NTC squad, comprising some of the most talented young female players in the region. I have chosen a squad with real potential and a squad that is capable of learning to play a much more technical brand of football, in line with the modern trends in the game. I want this squad to develop their technical ability and to become a very attractive footballing side, one that is capable of retaining possession and one that is creative and offensively minded. This is going to take time and hard work. Some of these players, if they continue to work hard will force their way into the W League squad and maybe even into national team reckoning as long as they realize that there are no short cuts and no substitute for hard work! Di Alagich, Sharon Black and Kristyn Swaffer all worked hard to get where they did and to represent their country, if this group of girls want to achieve the same and go to Women's World Cups and Olympic Games they too must work hard to develop their skills, fitness and understanding of this great game.