NPLW U15 coach Sam Montenegro joined Canberra Olympic at the start of 2020, and little did she expect the year to start the way it has.

After undertaking Capital Football’s C License program and a promising, albeit smoke hazed preseason in February and March, the season has been anything but normal.

Thankfully, she feels well supported by both her club, led by NPLW head coach Andrew Woodman, and Capital Football’s Club Coaching Coordinator Ali Efe through the Coach Support Program.

To support club coaches in their own environment, Ali has been visiting NPLY and NPLW coaches since football’s return to share his experiences and skills with coaches.

“It can be daunting joining a new club as a coach, but the coaching staff has a great culture of working together and I have a great bunch of girls who are talented and really keen,” Sam shared.

“I really appreciate and value now having the added support of Ali to help me one on one, building on from the C license.”

“Whilst I have played football, I am still uncertain at times how to best explain a concept to the team and design exercises to bring a concept to life, so it is really helpful having Ali’s experience.

“Ali’s insight and delivery has been helpful to observe. He’s very good at concisely explaining positioning, purpose and outcomes in a way the girls pick up on quickly. The girls and I appreciate Ali taking the time to help us improve our coach-player engagement and communication.

“I am always keen to learn, so it is great that Capital Football has this initiative.”

As part of Capital Football’s Coach Support Program, Ali assists NPLY and NPLW coaches with training session observations, session planning, half-time talks, match analysis and player management.

Ali, who has a UEFA A License and has extensive youth coaching experience in Turkey, said the opportunity to help young coaches has been rewarding.

“The program is designed to support NPLY and NPLW Junior coaches, who often coach alone with no assistant coaches,” Ali said. “The program provides the opportunity to enrich their coaching through collaboration and sharing of knowledge.

“Visiting them at their training grounds allows us to support them in the context of their working environment, making it a more genuine development experience.

“I really like working with all the different coaches and seeing how passionate they are about developing themselves as coaches.”

NPLY and NPLW clubs and coaches interested in having Ali Efe assist at their training sessions can contact him via email.