The Manly Warringah Football Association is proud to announce Imogen Carlisle (Avalon Soccer Club) and Jane Lillycrop (Pittwater RSL Football Club) as the winners of the 2018 MWFA Female Coaching Scholarships.
The scholarships, now in the second year, are awarded to two female coaches who coach at an MWFA club which will see them receive funding from the MWFA to attain their FFA/AFC C Licence Coaching Qualification.
This year saw record applicants with eight coaches from the association apply, all of which were very strong applications however the selection panel saw two stand out applicants.
Both applicants have been involved with their club for several years and will see great benefit from attaining their FFA/AFC C Licence.
A key part of the scholarship is that the winners take up the role of being a CCC for their club to help support and inspire other female coaches to become involved in grassroots coaching.
Last years inaugural scholarship winners Lyndal Caruthers and Cerise Brooks fully embraced their scholarship and worked terrifically with their respective clubs and their female coaches.
MWFA Community Coach Development Manager Chris Adams praised both candidates and is excited to see them grow over the scholarship period.
Once again the quality of applicants was very high which made it hard for the selection panel to narrow the shortlist down to 2 winners, Adams said.
The scholarship is a key program for the MWFA as we aim to grow our female coaching numbers significantly over the coming years to ensure the boom in womens participation is matches by an increase in female coaches.
It was particularly pleasing to see that both of our scholarship winners, Imogen and Jane, applied last year and although unsuccessful in 2017 stuck to an action plan we mapped out for them to improve over the last 12 months.
PROFILES:
Jane Lillcrop Pittwater RSL FC
How does it feel to be awarded the MWFA Female Scholarship for 2018?
I feel honoured to be awarded the 2018 MWFA Female Scholarship. I am excited at the prospect of gaining more knowledge and learning additional skills to be able to coach future teams at Pittwater Football Club.
How will the female scholarship help you as a coach and what impact will it have on your MWFA club?
I’m looking forward to complimenting my PE Teaching skills by strengthening my technical football coaching skills. I hope to be able to positively impact Pittwater Football Club in three key areas:
- By being a more informed and educated coach to assist with the female teams
- Helping less-experienced Pittwater coaches
- Passing on correct rules, skills and knowledge to Pittwater kids, parents and coaches.
Imogen Carlisle Avalon Soccer Club
How does it feel to be awarded the MWFA Female Scholarship for 2018?
It feels amazing to have been awarded the MWFA Female Scholarship. Attaining my C-license qualification has been a main goal of mine for a while now so to have the extra support from the MWFA to achieve this is incredible. Over the past few years, it has been so encouraging to see the increased backing and focus on female football broadly, but especially within the MWFA. Every program and initiative, such as the female scholarship, plays a big role in achieving increased equality for all footballers and ensures the continued growth and development of girls and womens football in Manly Warringah. Needless to say, I feel very privileged to now be able to play a stronger and more informed role in this process.
How will the female scholarship help you as a coach and what impact will it have on your MWFA club?
The female scholarship will allow me to take my coaching to the next level. I am a qualified PDHPE teacher and gained my FFA skill and game-training certificates a few years ago, however, I am at the stage of my career where I feel that I will benefit greatly from the advanced analytical, tactical and planning skills that the C-license offers. Additionally, the continued guidance provided by the scholarship from experienced coaches such as Christopher Adams will be highly beneficial in refining my coaching practices and ultimately improve the experiences of the players I work with. Most importantly, this will allow me to contribute further to the incredible Womens Football Programs at Avalon Football Club, such as the mentoring system of youth girls teams from senior players, ongoing coach education sessions and celebrations of female football, including the Super Sunday, which was launched this year. There are great things happening for womens football at Careel Bay and I believe this scholarship will enable me to identify more key initiatives that we can implement to improve and grow these programs further.
