To celebrate International Women’s Day we are profiling inspiring females within our football community – meet NSFA Board Member Jacinta Martin!
How did you get involved with football?
My two best friends growing up were twin boys who encouraged me to start playing in kindergarten with Prouille. We had many great football memories but sliding through the mud on rainy days ruining my uniform was a highlight and dare I say, still fun to this day as an adult. Now I love the friendship, camaraderie and community spirit of football.
Why did you get involved with your club?
I had always been a senior player helping to coach and manage the women’s all age group and the women’s coordinator at Turramurra United (Kylie Chambers) and some of my team mates decided we were going for a female football world domination plan and so I joined the committee, started my formal coaching courses and volunteered where I could and I haven’t looked back!
Jacinta (pictured left) and Hornsby Heights President Cathy Ruggero.
Can you share your coaching journey and your role as CCC?
I have grown up with parent coaches and playing football all my life, but when I started to do some goal keeping courses for our female teams, I struggled to make the impact I wanted on how to deliver the experience and make it engaging and fun. Then I saw a coaching clinic in Female Football Week by Eilidh Mackay and decided I needed more training on how to deliver coaching concepts. I signed up for skill training, game training and then onto C-Licence and have been building within our club to deliver a better coaching experience for coaches and players.
Why did you decide to become a NSFA Board Member? Can you share your experience so far as a board member?
I love football and have loved playing and taking on more responsibility and leadership within my team, the club and now the association, it was a great next step to help bring my passion to more people and to ensure that the football experience in other teams and clubs was the same as my great experiences. It also brings together my passion for sport and my passion for business (day job) so I can use both for the good of the association. It is important to me to bring female football to those who haven’t yet experienced it and I feel that if you want to see change, be the change they need.
Can you share what #ChooseToChallenge means to you?
I am a big believer in challenging yourself every day, whether it is to learn something new or try something new so the IWD Choose to Challenge campaign is a great reminder to advocate and champion women everywhere. Women who are challenging themselves or have challenged themselves and are now somewhere they didn’t think they be, are a force of nature in my books. I would love to see more women being cheered on and of course, pushing the boundaries of their comfort zone.
International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.
The #IWD2021 campaign theme is #ChooseToChallengeA challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.
We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.
NSFA supports International Women’s Day and the #ChooseToChallenge campaign, and continues to support the growth of female football through our ‘What’s Best for Her’ strategy.
Female football in NSFA is proudly supported by Harvey Norman.