Sarah Oliver
The Melton Phoenix’s are ramping up more opportunities for women and girls in the club.
The club’s president, Michelle Williamson, was practically born into the club with her parents both playing for Melton since they moved to Australia from England decades ago.
Williamson then played in the junior boys until the age of 12, when she had no other choice but to join the women’s side.
Her experience playing with boys and then women, as a girl, made her passionate about changing things up in the club in recent years.
“I wanted to make the club a better place and be more inclusive with women which is what I went through when I was younger. I didn’t want any girls to go through that,” she said.
When she joined the committee, she quickly noticed the club was being run as an “old school boys club”.
“So we all got involved and now we’re thriving. So many women and so many girls want to get involved,” she said.
The committee is 50/50 female to male ratio now.
“Everyone’s open to anything (any role). Anyone who is capable is doing it,” Williamson said.
“I always make sure the girls program is something that’s at the forefront.”
The club now has a progression for girls to start at the age of five to play all the way through to womens.
Williamson said the pathways for girls are critical for their development in the game.
“For juniors, it’s an activity to keep physically fit and to learn the discipline of team sports,” she said.
“But also once they hit those teenage years, I think it’s a sense of belonging with girls with similar things in common. And then it becomes, as you’re an adult, it’s a support network, as you’re going through motherhood or jobs and things like that…it’s a really big community.
“And having the pathways for football and realising they (the girls) want to play, there’s nothing the boys are doing that they can’t.”
The women’s side are back in full swing this year in league 5 which Williamson said are going to be really competitive.
“They’ve obviously built on their skill base over the last couple of years so I think they’ll be quite competitive,” Williamson said.
“We’ve got in a girl who’s played state 3 before…she was keen to come across…so they’re bolstering up quite well.”
The club will be co-hosting an event for International Women’s Day with Zonta, an international women’s organisation.
“The club has always done a small women’s day event but our rooms can only host so many people, so this is a way to have a more professional event,” Williamson said.
The event will be held on Thursday March 3 at Tabcorp park with guest speaker Libbi Gorr.
