Number of women head coaches on the rise

The Head Coaches Workshop, held in conjunction with the AFC U-13 Girls Festival of Football, has once again proved the rapid development of women’s football in the continent.

The number of women head coaches has increased from three in 2009 to eight out of 11 teams this year and AFC Director of Grassroots and Youth Development, John Whittle, who was instructor of the course, was pleased with this development.

“There were fruitful discussions regarding women’s football development,” said Whittle.”It was also very interesting and encouraging to hear from the coaches that development of women’s football is being taken more and more seriously in Asia.”

The two-day course was held on June 25 and 26 in Ho Chi Minh City with the participation of eleven aspiring coaches from Vietnam, Australia, China Taipei, China, Guam, Japan, DPR Korea, Korea Republic, Myanmar, Philippines and Thailand.

For Australian Nicola Williams, the course was a good opportunity to meet fellow coaches from other countries.

“It is fantastic to see AFC supporting the involvement of female coaches at this level,” said Williams. “The workshop also served as a good opportunity for me to meet and network with fellow coaches from different countries.”

Josephine D Loren of the Philippines said this was a good start for women’s football development in the continent.

“This festival will give Philippines women’s football development a big boost. It will also encourage more young girls in my country to play football. My players will surely encourage their classmates and friends to play football when they return,” she said.

Guam’s Kristin Thompson said the workshop was useful as every participant was able to use the opportunity to learn and share experiences together.

“Language barrier is not an easy problem to overcome but if you are patient, then everything will be fine,” opined Thompson. “This Festival is great for the girls. In my playing career, I never had any opportunity to play international football at this age.”