FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 ™ – News – New Zealand helps coaches overcome obstacles

• New Zealand Football runs a coach mentoring program
• Among the participants in 2021 are well-known names such as patriot Katie Duncan
• An opportunity to change perceptions and create role models in the run-up to the 2023 World Cup

Although some progress has been made over the past decade, coaching in football is largely male-dominated. In the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup, only three of the 16 participating teams were led by coaches. At the 2019 World Cup in France, there were already nine coaches in 24 participating teams.

In the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in just over two years, that number is likely to increase even more. In New Zealand – along with Australia to host the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup – there are plans to not only move unseen barriers but to break them completely.

Evidence of this is the NZF Coach Orientation Program. The program will provide valuable assistance to the participants, but it is also about vision, role models and changing coaches’ perceptions. Some women fear that they are the only participants in some courses, said Ashley Cox, NZF Development Officer.

Participants will be sponsored by three of New Zealand’s top coaches, Gemma Lewis – who took part in FIFA Coach Mentor 2019 – Natalie Lawrence and Maya Fink. The overall management of the program rests with Tom Sirmani, Technical Director of Fern football.

The quality of the applicants was so high that the number of participants was increased to nine. They include current coaches and assistant coaches from the National League, Capital Football captain Katie Barrott and former W-League player Maika Ruyter-Hooley.

However, the most famous of the participants is Katie Duncan. She was an indispensable part of the New Zealand midfield for more than a decade before announcing her retirement from the national team shortly after her fourth World Cup participation in France in 2019.

Now she is starting a new phase of her career. The program has enormous indirect benefits in helping players make the transition from athlete to coach.

“I love the feeling that I am still part of a team. This aspect of coaching has really helped me move from actively playing to working on the sidelines,” said Duncan. FIFA.com. “It is wonderful that so many passionate young women want to learn from experiences and knowledge that I can impart. I especially enjoy the challenges that come with continuous learning and the will to improve.”

The 125-year-old national athlete says there are many traditional barriers for women in coaching careers. “While we are seeing a slow increase in the number of women in football, in general, there are distinctly different reasons why the number of coaches is still relatively low.

“I think the mere lack of role models for young players is an important factor. But there are many other examples. I know the challenges of having a young family from my own experience. It is not easy to find the right balance when you are a mother and wife at the same time. Another factor is the difference.” Salaries for coaches in women’s and men’s soccer. “

Meanwhile, the first FIFA Women’s World Cup ™ tournament in the southern hemisphere nears and the New Zealand League are working to make sure they put a solid foundation off the field as well. We hope through this program not only will we open the doors to more women seeking a career as advanced level coaches, but also inspire more women to take up coaching positions at the local level when there are more female trainers on site to introduce. Training courses, “so Co.

“The number of participations is growing exponentially, there is the FIFA Women’s World Cup in our front yard and there is a real will to have more coaches in football. We see this as an opportunity to develop some important leaders who will then become a generation of women able to train, supervise and inspire to become too. Coaches. “