Football coaches across Queensland’s south east will have the opportunity to pick the brains of some of the sharpest minds in the AFL Women’s competition next month at the AFL Queensland Coaching Female’s Forum.
The forum, which will take place at Yeronga State High School on June 30 and is free to all registered Coach AFL coaches, aims to educate coaches about injury prevention and performance enhancement in the women’s football space.
Using the Prep to Play coaching manual, the brains trust of AFLW alumni will take coaching through theoretical and practical sessions.
Current Melbourne AFLW player and La Trobe University Research Assistant Brooke Patterson, who formed part of the research team who developed the Prep to Play curriculum, will be the key note speaker at the forum.
Patterson’s experience as both an active player in women’s football and an academic means she will provide unparalleled expertise to coaches.
She will be joined by Brisbane Lions AFLW chief executive Bree Brock and head coach Craig Starcevich
Gold Coast SUNS player Sam Virgo will also be on hand to provide her experience as a player who has suffered a season-ending injury having torn her ACL in the 2017 QAFLW Grand Final.
Like all sports, Australian rules footballers are susceptible to injuries at both training and on game day, however the likelihood of injury is heightened in women’s sport.
The free session will provide coaches the necessary skills and understanding to better prevent injuries among footballers including lessons on movement, technique, jumping and tackling.
The forum will specialise on knee injury and head injury prevention – areas identified in Prep to Play that are most at risk among footballers.
Coaches will also be taken through four practical exercises run by the State Female High Performance Coaches.
AFL Queensland Female Talent Manager Kath Newman said given the injury risk associated with women’s football, learning how to lower the associated risks is now a crucial facet of the sport.
“While the current statistics of injuries in the AFLW are alarming, it is through the implementation of the Prep to Play strategies from community through to elite level that we will see the incidence of these injuries reduce,” Newman said.
“The strategies are easy to incorporate into a regular training session and just as useful for male players as they are for female.”
The AFL Queensland Coaching Female Forum will take place at Yeronga State High School on June 30 from 8:30am to 2:00pm.
The session is a free event for all coaches registered within the Coach AFL system.
To register for the AFL Queensland Coaching Female’s Forum, please click here.
