INITIALLY, Mikayla Jones didn’t think she had the self-confidence to throw herself into soccer coaching, as she was still finding her feet as a player.
Fast forward a couple of years and the recently turned 18-year-old can’t get enough of mentoring and supporting young players at her Nichols Point Soccer Club.
So good at the role was she, Jones was recently named Football Victoria’s (FV) Female Community Coach of the Year for her efforts to not only play senior women’s matches, but coach the under-6 and under-8 teams, and co-coaching under-13 and under-16 girls.
When naming her as winner, FV said Jones had been nominated for her “exceptional ability to communicate effectively with the younger players” and “act as a positive role model in her community”.
“She has been praised by parents, players and coaches for connecting with her younger players in a meaningful way and ensures training is always training fun, engaging and educational,” FV said.
The news of the award was a complete surprise to Jones, who didn’t even know her mother, Nichols Point president Roxanne Jones, had nominated her.
“Mum applied for it and I had no idea about it so I was a bit surprised when she told me but it’s really good, I was really happy with it,” she said.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was really little so I’ve always loved the sport.
“I didn’t really have a lot of interest in working with the kids at the start because I didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself when it came to soccer but I think as I grew as player I became more confident, had more of an interest in helping other people get to that stage and get the excitement out of soccer that I do, and just seeing them grow is really rewarding, it’s a great thing to see.”
There isn’t much spare time available for Jones, who works on Saturdays and has her entire Sunday taken up by soccer, not to mention training during the week.
But she has found enjoyment working with the young players.
“It just kind of happened, to be honest,” she said. “I worked with them really well and there’s some great kids there and it just kind of grew really quickly.
“It was a bit harder to get them to stay focused and grow with them because of all this COVID stuff because it’s been very on and off, but the ones who have stayed motivated have grown a lot this year, which is really good to see them get to that stage.
“I genuinely just like seeing them grow and go from where they were at the start and working with that. I’m hoping to take some of these older girls up to a championship, which would be great to see.”
