'The only woman in a room': N.S. soccer clubs join national push for more female coaches

Club soccer teams in Nova Scotia are taking part in a national program aimed at training more female coaches.

The initiative, called She CAN Coach, is focused on increasing the number of women and girls coaching at the grassroots levels of the sport.

"There is a gender gap in participation across the country between boys and girls," said Sara McConaghy, the director of community and fund development for Canada Soccer.

"Every young girl across our country should know that they've got a place in soccer."

McConaghy helped introduce the program in Guelph, Ont., during the pandemic and it's now in the process of expanding nationally, starting in Nova Scotia and Alberta.

The sport's national body has teamed up with provincial organizations Soccer Nova Scotia and Alberta Soccer, as well as telecommunications company Telus to get it going.

Developing coaches aged 16 to 50

Eight clubs in Nova Scotia have been selected to take part.

"It really opens up the space. It's very exciting. People want to be a part of it," said Susan Steele, the program's lead for United D.F.C. in Dartmouth, one of the clubs involved.

Steele has coached for more than 30 years. While she has always felt supported, she also remembers being one of very few women when she was starting out. 

"Half of our community is female. Our coaching community and soccer community should be the same," she said.

There is already strong interest, including from some of the club's current players.

"I think it's good to have somebody to look up to that is a female," said Havana Walker, a 15-year-old defender on the United D.F.C. U15 AAA team who is keen to be a part of the program.

Around 18 women and girls have applied to the club, Steele said, ranging from teenagers to others in their 40s.

'The only woman in a room'

The culture of the sport is being talked about around the world following the Spanish soccer scandal. 

The country's male federation president resigned after facing intense criticism for kissing a Spanish player on the lips without her consent as her team celebrated winning the Women's World Cup in August.

The She CAN Coach program is also aimed at creating opportunities for women and girls to move up to higher levels in the sport.

In announcing its launch in July, Telus cited studies showing that in Canada, less than one per cent of women are working as professional coaches and decision-making members on national and provincial boards.

"I definitely see it all the time, where it's not uncommon to be the only woman in a room or the only female-identifying decision-maker," said Kim Wallace, who played at the university level and is now on the board of directors for United D.F.C.

"You offer a different perspective. You have a different set of experiences."

Young female players are already getting behind the idea.

"Some male coaches are good too but females, I find, understand the female players better," said Sian Woods, another player on the U15 AAA team of United D.F.C.

Soccer Nova Scotia said 47 per cent of its coaches were female last year. However, executive director Lindsay MacAskill said the numbers drop off at the more competitive levels.

Additional supports such as child care, even at the field during practices or games, are now being considered in an effort to fix that, she said.

Steele said each of the participating clubs in Nova Scotia will try to develop between 10 and 15 new female coaches.

"Just in the sheer numbers alone, we'll have 80 to 100 or more new coaches and then those female coaches will inspire other coaches to join," Steele said.

The recruitment of the coaches begins next month, with training set to start in January, in time for them to coach at the community level of the game next summer.