You just need a minute in Melissa Green’s company to realise how passionate she is about coaching. And just how much she is in her element observing a Wellington Phoenix training session at the NZCIS campus.

The FC Twenty 11 coach of an under 14-year-old girls was one of 21 women from across Aotearoa who took part in New Zealand Football’s female-only OFC C-Licence at the Wellington Phoenix’s training ground at the NZCIS earlier this year.

“As a coach, I always know that there's things I can learn and things I can do differently. I very much want to improve my coaching knowledge and style learning from other females coaching other females within Aotearoa,” she said.

For Melissa, who has also been heavily involved in her club’s administration over the years, attending the C-Licence course gave her opportunity to begin progressing along the advanced coaching pathway.

“If it wasn’t female-only, I probably wouldn’t have signed up. I lacked the confidence to stand in front of 20+ men, many who are top football athletes themselves, to deliver what I believe would be a good session for young women,” she explained.

There are currently 30 female C-Licence holders (including futsal and goalkeeper C-Licences), eight B-Licence holders and just one A-Licence holder in Aotearoa. That number is set to increase, with a number of qualifications underway: since 2021, not including the 21 on this year’s women-only course, 51 females have attended a C-Licence course, four have attended a B-Licence and three have attended an A-Licence. In comparison, there are 375 male C-Licence holders (including futsal and goalkeeper C-Licences), 117 male B-Licence holders and 37 A-Licence holders.

“The opportunity to do a female-only course meant that not only was the content a little bit more tailored to females developing female football, but it also meant we could learn from other female coaches and how they addressed different things,” she said.

With coaching typically being a heavily male-dominated area, Legacy Starts Now initiatives like the female-only OFC C-Licence are designed to address this by creating spaces and removing those barriers to entry for women. In addition to the obvious benefit of more coaches working in the grassroots game, having more female coaches normalises the presence of women in coaching roles, which in turn will encourage other girls and women to consider coaching themselves. It creates another avenue for upskilling and empowering women in areas that have traditionally been male-dominated, such as coaching, is a particular strategic priority for New Zealand Football, and a legacy of co-hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup this year. Developing coaches like Melissa is key to continue growing the female game.

Are there are any coaches Melissa herself particularly looks to as a role model?

“That’s an easy one,” she laughed, gesturing at the training pitch where then Phoenix coach Natalie Lawrence was still working one-on-one with a player 20 minutes after the others have left.

“In the first module of this course Natalie shared how she identified her style, understanding the pros and cons of that style, and how she wanted to be authentic in her football coaching style and with her players.

“As a football coach it’s really good to understand where your strengths and weaknesses are, set a plan to work on your weaknesses and to be authentic with your players.”

Now the women's U-17 head coach and national talent pathway manager, Natalie Lawrence is a role model for other female coaches like Melissa.

For Melissa, football is also about role modelling within her community, whether it be through coaching, playing, and ensuring there are pathways for everyone into the game. While she played a variety of sports in her youth, she didn’t play football herself until she was in her 40s. “Just because you've had children doesn't mean that your sporting achievements and interests have to stop too”.

“It’s not like I’m ever going to play in the A-League, but by coaching football it's enabling me to be connected with my community, share my knowledge and experience with our younger female athletes, keeping active and mentally stimulated while having a bit of fun.

“And that's a really great thing for us to show our younger tamariki coming through: there is a pathway and there are wāhine out there wanting to help you develop and achieve your football dreams.”

Several months on, and Melissa is back on the grass at FC Twenty 11 in the thick of the community season. As well as developing her coaching practice, she says the connections and community she’s built with other female coaches on the course have been incredibly valuable.

“Having been provided the background and framework to design, deliver and review my training session, I have new-found confidence in my ability to have a significant impact in female football. 

“I seriously cannot speak any higher of the course and those delivering the content in what it's given me as a coach in growing my skillset to help the development of those girls.

"In addition, having other people to work with and take learnings from their environments, from their clubs and from their members and cementing that has given me so much confidence and real growth in my own coaching delivery.”

Environments like the female-only C-Licence course gives participants a community of coaches to learn from.

Equally happy to work in the community or development spaces, Melissa stated “I am 100% percent committed to getting more girls playing football”.

She’s driven by her desire to “open the door” for girls to play football, whether they just want

to play with their friends, develop their football or strive for the A-League.

“It's not just about developing those that want to develop, it's developing those girls that don't know much about football and haven't had an opportunity or are not necessarily supported through their own family's knowledge of football, and to actually open the door to them.”

One of New Zealand Football’s key legacy priorities is to deliver opportunities, experiences, and development pathways for wāhine looking to develop their coaching. To learn more about coaching courses and other development opportunities, see New Zealand Football’s website here
 

Article added: Thursday 29 June 2023