NATIONAL WEBINAR SERIES
As part of Female Football Week, Football Australia is hosting three webinars to showcase and highlight the women who make up the Australian football ecosystem.
Fans, players, volunteers, coaches, referees and anyone involved in the game are invited to come hear from some leading industry experts. These webinars hope to inspire you to further your journey in football, whilst also providing you with practical tips and insights.
The three webinars will cover the following areas:
- Monday, 6 May 2024: Coaching
- Wednesday, 8 May 2024: Officiating
- Sunday, 12 May 2024: Working in Football
To register for the webinars and for more information, see below.
Coaching: Developing Female Football coaches for the future
Targeted at those in the community who aspire to progress their coaching skills. Panel discussion with current professional female coaches and introduction to Football Australia's Coach development pathway highlighting the Growing Football Fund Coaching Hub.
- Date: Monday, 6 May 2024
- Time: 8-9pm (AEST)
- MC: Louise McColl
- Panellists: Kat Smith, Caitlin Friend & Helen Winterburn
Kat Smith
Kat Smith is a passionate and dedicated football coach with over a decade of experience nurturing young talent and shaping winning teams. With her deep love for the game and a keen eye for talent, she has garnered a reputation for excellence in coaching at both the youth and professional club levels.
Caitlin Friend
Representing Australia at the National Youth level, Melbourne-born Caitlin Friend has had an impressive professional career. Playing both across Australia and internationally in England and the United States, before following her true passion and establishing her coaching career. Now a Senior Women's Head Coach, Caitlin is passionate about developing the future of the women's game. Highly regarded by her peers, the 30-year-old has a wealth of knowledge and experience in developing young female footballers as well as coaching professional athletes at the highest level.
Helen Winterburn
Helen is the current Young Matildas Assistant Coach in which the squad recently qualified for 2024 U20 Women's World Cup after coming 3rd in 2024 U20 Women's Asian Cup.
Helen has over 15 years of experience coaching women and is working full-time as a Football Coach at Central Coast Sports College.
Inaugural ALW Western United Assistant Coach helped guide the team in reaching the Grand Final and were League Runners up in their first A League Women's season.
Officiating: Refereeing role models and pathways for females in football
Targeted at those in the community who aspire to progress their refereeing journey. Panel discussion with current female referees about how to get started in community refereeing including advice on seeking a trusted mentor to offer guidance, feedback and support.
- Date: Wednesday, 8 May 2024
- Time: 8-9pm (AEST)
- MC: Emma Kocbek
- Panellists: Joanna Charaktis, Renae Coghill & Molly Godsell
Joanna Charaktis
A qualified Business Analyst, Joanna Charaktis had her start at refereeing at age 16, and has since gone on to boast an impressive professional career; with 13 years on the A-League, and working as a FIFA Assistant Referee since 2019; she refereed the 2022 Women's Asian Cup final, and again at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. Joanna is now gearing up to referee at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Renae Coghill
Renae Coghill is the current Elite Coaching Manager for Women’s Refereeing at Football Australia, she brings a wealth of experience, having served as a FIFA assistant referee from 2015 to 2021 and officiated matches in the ALW panel from 2008 to 2021.
Molly Godsell
Molly began her refereeing journey when she was 13 years old. After ranking as the number one referee at the National Youth Championships in 2022 and UniSports Nationals in 2023, she was appointed to her debut A-League Women's match as a fourth official and 3 weeks later, made her debut appearance as a centre referee. Molly is also currently completing her honours project in a Bachelor of Psychology.
Working in Football
Targeted at those in the community who are interested in careers in football. Expert panel discussion regarding the range and depth of the various roles in football for women and girls to aspire to.
Outlining the skills and attributes that recruiters are looking for in 2024. Advice for nailing interviews and different approaches to landing a job in football.
- Date: Sunday, 12 May 2024
- Time: 8-9pm (AEST)
- MC: Delfina Moresco
- Panellists: Samantha Lewis, Jaclyn Lee-Joe & Kimberley Conte
Samantha Lewis
Samantha Lewis is a women’s football journalist at the ABC. She has spent the past several years covering all levels of the game, from grassroots and community through to Olympic Games and World Cups across leading organisations and publications including The Guardian, Optus Sport, SBS, and ESPN.
Jaclyn Lee-Joe
Jaclyn has over 20 years of marketing, digital disruption and transformation experience across media, tech, communications and financial services. She has enjoyed working in a myriad of global and regional roles around the world with some truly impactful brands BBC, Netflix, Skype, Virgin and Afterpay.
Kimberley Conte
An experienced Sports Manager with a diverse background in communications, international and domestic event management, and technical expertise.
Current Head of Women's World Cup Legacy for FSA here in South Australia. This role has allowed Kimberley to bring together her passion for sports and her expertise in event management to create unforgettable experiences for members, athletes and fans and promote a wealth of education opportunities outside of the technical arena including gender equity, inclusion and diversity, mental and physical health to better equip young players.
Actively involved in the football community across a variety of areas including the Football South Australia Legacy Committee, Football Australia Women's & Girl's Working Group, Club Development and Course facilitator for Football Australia’s Women in Football Leadership Program, empowering women to excel in leadership positions within the football industry.
