Coaches are among the most visible and influential leaders in sport.  They make strategic decisions, build team culture, develop individual players, and shape the future of the game.  Coaches mentor hundreds of people from all walks of life and with different experiences throughout their careers, instilling values, building confidence, and creating pathways for participation and excellence. 

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Despite Maria's pioneering work and decades of advocacy, women and gender diverse participants remain dramatically underrepresented in coaching positions across football: 

• Women hold only 22% of head coaching positions in football globally 

• Just 9% of A-League Women teams are coached by women

• Women represented only 18% of accredited coaches for the Australian team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and only 23% at the Paralympic Games

• At the community level, women coaches are significantly outnumbered, despite coaching being a natural leadership pathway for former players 

 

Research reveals the systemic barriers women face: 

• Inadequate institutional support: Women coaches report that official support networks fail them, forcing reliance on family rather than professional networks 

• Persistent sexism: Women coaches consistently encounter questioning of their expertise and lack of respect in coaching environments

• Absence of role models: Research with women football coaches found that those who did pursue coaching were "inspired by a recent increase of female role models in the game", but with so few visible women coaches, especially at grassroots level, many potential coaches never see coaching as possible for them

• Financial barriers: Coaching courses cost $800 - $2,000, a significant investment for volunteer community coaches 

• Network exclusion: Coaching opportunities are often shared through informal networks that women struggle to access

 

Linking Maria's Vision to Today's Challenge 

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Maria understood exactly these challenges.  She experienced them herself as one of the few women coaching at community level.  She worked to overcome them through mentoring other coaches, building inclusive club environments, and advocating for structural change at the governance level. 

 

The Maria Berry AM Coaching Scholarship directly addresses the barriers that persist today by providing what Maria knew coaches needed: 

• Financial support to access coaching education that might otherwise be out of reach 

• Structured mentoring from experienced coaches, replacing the informal "old boys' networks" with intentional, accessible support 

• Professional networks through Women Onside and Football Coaches Australia, creating the connections that lead to opportunities 

• Visibility through presentations and the Women Onside platform, making women coaches more visible to the next generation 

• Community of fellow scholarship recipients, building peer support and collective advocacy 

 

This scholarship honours Maria's legacy not through remembrance alone, but through action.  It takes her belief that women deserve opportunities "to play, lead, and be recognised" and translates it into tangible support for grassroots coaches, the coaches Maria championed throughout her life.