How Mackenzie Davis is paving the way for more females in football

The 24-year-old environmental engineer does not do it for the accolades but conceded being "almost emotional" when named coach of the year at the Northern NSW Football Female Football Week awards on Saturday night.

Davis was tasked with guiding a young and largely inexperienced squad through a rebuilding phase at New Lambton Football Club last year, when she was the only female first-grade coach in NPLW NNSW.

In what Davis described as "a trial by fire", the Eagles were not expected to win a game. And they didn't.

But, in a big win for Davis and the club, every player from their senior squad returned in 2023.

The 100 per cent retention rate was a direct reflection of the culture Davis established during her first season in a head coaching role and her efforts have not gone unnoticed.

"To be nominated to begin with was a really special honour," Davis said.

"This is my third year now living in Newcastle, so to know that my community considers me to have already had an impact in that short amount of time is incredibly heart-warming and a real reassurance for me that my efforts are paying off in terms of my community feeling impact.

"It was a really beautiful nomination coming off the back of what was an incredibly trialling year last year as coach, to turn around and get such a high retention from our youth all the way through to our seniors coming into this 2023 season.

"That was something that was mentioned and I was being commended for and it was really special to know that, whilst we didn't have a results-driven first-grade season, people recognised that New Lambton was putting all its work between attracting talent and retaining players who want to enjoy their football."

Davis gained plenty of experience last season but stepped away from the first-grade coaching position and became New Lambton's head of women's football.

It is a big role but one Davis hopes to use to encourage and support a whole new generation of female coaches.

"We've got no female coaches now in our staff from 13s through to seniors, which was a real pain point for me stepping down as head coach, but knowing stepping into head of women's football that it was in my direct control over the next couple of years as to how we recruit female coaches," she said.

"We've ran a couple of grassroots courses and skills certificates and there's a couple of girls I've got pinned for taking on some more responsibilities as the years go on."

Davis said it was vital to work towards increasing female involvement across all sectors of football in a year where the FIFA Women's World Cup is coming to our shores.

"It's what gives me the energy to go to the extra session, get there for set-up at 8am and be there for pack-up at 8pm," Davis said.

"It's knowing that this is the year where there's a lot of eyes and a lot of energy in the sport that we won't have ever again.

"So, it's definitely my job in the position that I'm in to make sure we utilise the energy and funding and resources while we've got it."

Davis has been coaching since she was 14.

She now has her C licence and is halfway through a B licence after being awarded an advanced coaching scholarship at last year's Female Football Week.

Cost and time to complete coaching courses remains a big hurdle for women wishing to advance their skills.

"Numbers are low but they're higher than what they were," Davis said.

"At my first coaching courses, I was definitely a solo woman out of maybe 40 and now maybe it's three or four or five out of 40.

"At the grassroots level, it's definitely growing. I was recently lucky enough to sit on to learn to be a coach educator with Northern NSW and they ran an all-females miniroos certificate.

"There were 10 to 15 women there learning to coach, whereas I did that exact certificate about eight years ago and was the only woman on that course.

"It's just when it starts to become a financial burden, I guess, is when women have to say, 'Look I can't afford to take this chunk out of my time, out of my pay, when they're probably working a nine-to-five and coaching as a volunteer."

MORE IN SPORT:

To see more stories and read today's paper download the Newcastle Herald news app here.