00:00For me there wasn't a ton of opportunities to play growing up.
00:03I had to pretend I was a boy in order to access the opportunity to play.
00:07Cut all my hair off, called myself Fred, was able to disguise myself as a boy so I could play
00:12in the football team.
00:13We're getting to see now the fruits of the labour and the investment that's gone into some of the women's
00:17mentoring schemes.
00:18I think we're now catching up as more and more females have been exposed and have got a history in
00:24the game.
00:25I'm Freya and I'm the head coach for Angel City Football Club in Los Angeles.
00:30Coaching actually wasn't always my first choice as a career.
00:34When I finished university I wanted to be a sports psychologist
00:38but realised that my passion was still really in the day-to-day involvement with players in the team environment.
00:45I think we're seeing a dramatic change in the salaries that women can get now as head coaches within the
00:51league
00:52and not just women but men too.
00:53Starting out for myself I was paid pretty poorly but for me I took it
00:59and went with it because it was an opportunity to get my foot in the door.
01:03Working in this league as a head coach I think most coaches would be earning six-figure salaries
01:08but the amount that they earn is going to vary dramatically club to club and also depending on their track
01:14record of success.
01:15It's not all glamorous. It's pretty much a grind when you start.
01:18There's a lot of long hours, a lot of anti-social hours, a lot of working with multiple teams to
01:23make ends meet.
01:24So it's definitely not a career for the money, it's a career for the passion.
01:27I think coaching with Angel City, the thing I love the most is the relationship with the players and also
01:33the difference that we can make in the community.
01:34I love to be knowing that we can be doing something and raising the quality of the game, not only
01:41inspiring players and coaches within the community
01:43but also trying to make a difference on the global scale.
01:47There's always going to be challenges when I'm working as a professional coach in the league.
01:52A big part of that was just how women are perceived within the roles.
01:56You know you may have a male member of staff on the sideline with you but you know a lot
02:00of people would come up and shake the hand of that male member of staff
02:03thinking they're the head coach when actually it was you in that position.
02:06But now I think there's enough examples of where women are leading the way and doing a fantastic job.
02:11Everyone that works at the club is very passionate about the promotion of the women's game, making sure that we
02:18are fighting for equality both on and off the field.
02:20What I love about our league is the players will spend time with the fans, giving autographs, taking pictures with
02:26the fans
02:26and it's really a great connection that you can have within this league that I don't think exists in many
02:32leagues around the world.
02:33We're all here united and wanting to win so I love being part of the club.
02:38We're very much like-minded people that are always looking to transform the game and leave it in a better
02:42place.
02:46Typical game day is arrival at the stadium and we've done all our preparation, we've given the players our game
02:51plans.
02:52As the crowd starts to fill in the stadium and the players are warming up the sense of excitement starts
02:57to grow and there's such a buzz with the great number of fans that we have in the stands.
03:01And then when kick-off comes it's like a battle. Sometimes it can be pretty stressful and a big part
03:07of my job is to try and remain pretty calm and relax throughout.
03:12So not experience the highs and lows outwardly with the team.
03:18I think for all women that are looking at being a professional coach my advice would be to persevere.
03:25It's not easy in terms of getting those opportunities and at times you're going to come into environments and not
03:31feel entirely comfortable or confident
03:33but just recognising that you've just got to keep going through it.
03:36We'll see you next time.
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