Football Coaches Australia and XVenture partner to boost coaches across Australia

Australia’s football coaches will have access to a unique set of online courses thanks to a new partnership between Football Coaches Australia (FCA) and XVenture.

The courses will aim to develop essential skills on the mental side of the game – such as leadership, resilience, culture, and communication.

Having worked with a variety of Socceroos and top coaches, XVenture founded Mike Conway has developed a series of immersive and interactive courses as part of FCA’s plan to build a library of material for coaches in Australia to utilise.

The cost-effective courses – available from the start of next year – could be used by all coaches from park football to elite levels, and will position FCA as a world leader in the delivery of unique professional development experiences for football coaches.

The partnership will be launched in November with the delivery of an inaugural national FCA/XVenture ‘Mind Games’ Cup competition, pitting teams of coaches from national teams, A-League, W-League, NPL and grassroots football clubs in addition to academies and school teams against each other for the trophy and a $5000 cash prize.

This will provide ‘Community, Connection and Camaraderie’ between all Australian football coaching cohorts.

The partnership aligns with FCA’s mission of ‘promoting and strengthening the reputation of football in Australia and the reputation of Australian football on the world stage’.

The focus of XVenture’s work is developing emotional agility, resilience and leadership (EARL) to enable improved personal and professional relationships, individual and team success. The ultimate process involves ‘lifting the ceiling’ on people’s thinking to create Winning Minds.

Teaming with XVenture will enable FCA to connect with coaches Australia wide, and FCA professional development programs, commencing in early 2021, will focus on the essential ‘soft skills’ of coaching relevant to being successful, at a professional and/or community club level – that is, Leadership, Culture, Communication Skills, Resilience, Emotional Intelligence & Mental Agility.

XVenture Mind Games has been created by Mike Conway, the current emotional agility and mind coach for the Socceroos, who has worked with a number of high- profile coaches over the last few years including: Graham Arnold, Rene Meleunsteen, Steve Corica, Richie Garcia, Jean-Paul de Marigny, Ufuk Talay and Trevor Morgan.

XVenture are leaders in the creation and delivery of cutting-edge learning and development programs. Adapting their face to face business in response to Covid 19, XVenture Mind Games is a first of its kind remote virtual high- performance team mind-training solution for developing key skills including adaptability, communication, social skills and collaboration.

Since its launch, more than 500 teams across business, elite sport and education have participated globally including teams from: Perth Glory FC, Western Sydney Wanderers FC, Melbourne City FC, Chicago Fire FC, Australian Women’s Cricket Team and Olympic teams from Cycling, Water Polo, Rugby 7s, Hockey and Canoeing.

“We are absolutely delighted to enter this ground-breaking partnership with Mike Conway and his XVenture team,” said Phil Moss, FCA President.

“I’ve personally known & worked with Mike for nearly 20 years and everything he touches turns to gold. The modern game is so heavily reliant on the mentality of coaches and players so this is a perfectly natural fit for us as an organization as we continue to work with our members on their professional development.

“It connects the professional game with the community game, professional coaches with community coaches and further strengthens the camaraderie amongst our coaching fraternity.

“FCA is working on a number of really exciting initiatives with XVenture and we can’t wait to roll them out.”

FCA Executive Committee member Member Terry McFlynn, who has undertaken XVenture programs at both Sydney FC and Perth Glory, added that “FCA are delighted to enter into this partnership with one of the countries leading organisations in the field of mental agility, leadership, communication and team building.”

“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Mike and the team at XVenture on a few projects. The detail and delivery of the programs are second to none and the desired outcomes are amazing to witness first hand.

“This is a very exciting partnership, one which I know will benefit coaches at all levels nationwide.”

XVenture founder and CEO Mike Conway says of the partnership: “It’s an absolute honour to partner with Football Coaches Australia. I believe in what they are trying to achieve in building the reputation of Australian coaches and Australian football in a Global context.

“I’ve experienced first- hand the difference that great coaches can make to teams and the lives of individual players. I am thrilled to be able to provide our experience at XVenture to develop key skills for all levels of coaches, and thus improve the standard and quality of the game.”

The 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund to cater for participation boom

2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund

The Victorian Government’s 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund is a state-wide investment, open until December 13, 2023.

This fund was created to adapt to the increasing need for infrastructure that is required for regular active sport and recreation.

Utilising three streams, sports clubs, facility managers and community organisations will all benefit from the following grants:

  • Community Facilities – up to $300,000
  • Community Sports Lighting – up to $250,000
  • Planning – up to $40,000

Led by Minister for Community Sport, Ros Spence, the creation of infrastructure will be made possible by planners, architects, engineers, project managers,
builders, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, facility managers and operational staff as part on the construction process. In turn, this has a direct link back to the local economy and offers hundreds of jobs.

For sporting & recreation clubs, sporting associations & leagues, educational institutions, not-for-profit community organisations, businesses and individuals looking to apply for the Local Sports Infrastructure Fund, an important note is that they cannot do so directly. Instead, they will coordinate this with Local Government Authorities and the Alpine Resorts Victoria who will apply on their behalf.

Applications close at 5pm on Wednesday December 13 2023 – with successful candidates of the 2023-24 Local Sports Infrastructure Fund announced from April 2024.

For full information and resources, you can view those here.

Football Queensland remain with Kappa for five more seasons until 2028

Football Queensland & Kappa partnership extension

Football Queensland have announced a five-year partnership extension with iconic international sports brand Kappa as its official apparel partner from 2024.

This relationship between the two parties has been very strong since they first partnered all the way back in 2017 and reinforces the support for football in Queensland that the brand has had.

Kappa has provided quality garments for some of Europe’s biggest clubs including Manchester City, Juventus, AC Milan and the Italian National team.

It’s a brand that was established in 1916 in Turin and eventually in 1978 they rebranded themselves to branch out as a sportwear brand where they focused purely on football-related products and designs.

For Football Queensland, they currently produce and provide quality on and off-field apparel for all Queensland State Representative teams including the state’s futsal representative squads. Kappa also provide on-field apparel for the game’s referees on the FQ website.

They also helped sponsor and start up the Kappa Women’s Super Cup and Kappa Pro Series tournaments that debuted in late 2021 and 2022 respectively for clubs to participate in across the state.

FQ CEO Robert Cavallucci was extremely pleased to announce this partnership extension following Kappa’s amazing support.

“Football Queensland is incredibly excited to announce Kappa as our official apparel partner for the next five years following a competitive tender process which saw us receive 20 expressions of interest and 15 submissions of an extremely high quality,” Cavallucci said via Football Queensland press release.

“In their seven years as a Football Queensland partner, Kappa has provided fantastic support to Football Queensland, our clubs and the wider football community thanks to their quality of apparel, ability to deliver on their promises and the team’s unwavering commitment to customer service.

“We’ve built a wonderful working relationship with the team at Kappa thanks to their willingness to go above and beyond to deliver outcomes for our organisation and our game, and we’re delighted to continue working in partnership with them from next year.”

Kappa Australia Director Ze’ev Bogaty shared the same sentiment for the great relationship the two parties have created.

“Kappa is a strong supporter of football in Queensland and has been proud to invest in the game since the partnership with Football Queensland began in 2017,” Bogaty mentioned in the FQ press release.

“Some highlights of the partnership have included the development of the teal shirt for first year referees, witnessing Queensland state sides dominate on the national stage in Kappa kit, and the launch of the Kappa Women’s Super Cup and Kappa Pro Series tournaments.

“As we embark on another five years as the state’s official apparel partner and continue our close working relationship with Football Queensland, we look forward to contributing even more to the growth and success of football across the state.”

There is a shared goal of improving the grassroots game in Queensland from both parties and the track record of Kappa’s immense investment over the past seven years has shown that this extension will do wonders for Queensland football.

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