Coaches like Amber Grosser from Nelson Bay FC are vital leaders in the game and one of the key reasons players return each season.
People become a coach for many reasons including building strong relationships, sharing their passion for football with a team, finding fulfilment in results, developing leadership skills and serving as a positive role model.
For Grosser, it was a way for her to enhance her skillset and give back to her club.
“I moved to Nelson Bay 10 years ago and had never kicked a ball but I joined the club to make friends and now I’m the president of Nelson Bay FC,” Grosser said.
“I became a coach when Northern NSW Football were offering the Women in Football Scholarships and I was a successful candidate.
“For years, I was assisting in coaching some of our junior teams as well as the women’s team that I played in. So when that scholarship came up, I thought that it would give me more tools to get confident in coaching a team, have more development in that space and give back to my club.”
Through her time at Nelson Bay FC, Grosser has inspired plenty of players but said her focus for the 2026 season would be the development of her under-13s girls team. A side that is made up of young athletes who only have one prior season of football up their sleeve.
“This season I will be coaching the under-13s girls but I started coaching them last season. It was a lot of fun last season, we created a team song that we sung before and after each game, even if we did lose because that helped us keep momentum,” Grosser said.
“As we’re a community club and it was a lot of the team’s first season, I got each player to try all positions and explained to them what it involved. While also working on their development as some of the girls have never kicked a ball before, so we went back to the basics with a lot of passing and getting them to communicate more on the field.
“But we had a great season and while the scoreboard wasn’t that great everyone is coming back to play this season, so I feel like I’ve achieved a goal that they still want to play football.”
Grosser said that coaching has shown her the importance of individuality, knowledge that transcends outside of football.
“Coaching has shown me that not every player is the same and won’t learn the same,” Grosser said.
“Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and variety is key for everyone to achieve and gain different skills.”
Grosser understands that clubs struggle to recruit coaches but believed that coaches play a key part in maintaining participation.
“Being on the committee I do find that we struggle to get coaches for teams because a lot of parents say ‘I don't know what to do’ but for our club we have developed coaching manuals and have a volunteer coaching coordinator that will hopefully give everyone the tools in their toolbox that will be able to give them the confidence to coach,” Grosser said.
“As a coach my focus for 2026 is to keep up the participation, the morale and sportsmanship within the team. I find if we make it fun, they’re going to come back and they’re going to want to put in the work and each develop.”
Registrations for the 2026 season are now open. Find out more and register to be a coach HERE.