New ground broken for female AFL coaches

THE Gold Coast Suns have launched an initiative aimed at developing the next crop of professional female coaches.

Two scholarships are now on offer to female coaches across all the Suns’ talent regions of the Gold Coast, Northern Rivers, North Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The opportunity would allow the two successful women to work inside the Suns’ AFLW program as a development coach for the equivalent of one training session per week, flexible to suit either an intensive period or stretched across the entire AFLW season. Female coaches make up approximately 10 per cent of the registered football coaches in Queensland, a number the club is aiming to change.

“We’re really proud as a club to be able to offer a scholarship like this to be able to support the progression of female coaches,” Suns head of women’s football Fiona Sessarago said.

“We think it’s extremely important to increase the number of females coaching elite sport and see this as a great way to give exposure to elite level programs.

“This program isn’t just for AFL coaches either, we encourage female coaches from all backgrounds to apply and learn in a new and exciting environment.”