As a result, in July, the AFL, including AFL South Coast, is acknowledging the contributions of its female mentors, as part of its inaugural women's coaching month.

More than 250 women are registered to coach across NSW and the ACT, calling the shots week in, week out from senior grades to the young Auskickers.

Each of them, including Bomaderry's Lyn Robinson, has a unique story about how they started coaching, why they do it and what they love about it.

Robinson, who has been coaching for the past seven seasons including a girls-only team the past three, believes it's crucial to have avenues to allow females to follow their dreams.

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"Accessibility to weekend sport is extremely important for families," Robinson, who mentors the Bomaderry's under 15 girls side, said.

"To have a mixed and female-only competition on our doorstep is paramount to its success.

"The players themselves attract new players to the sport, with their passion and enjoyment of training and playing.

"Having clubs that support female teams also allows for a positive sporting environment.

"Accessibility to the Giants Academy has provided a much-needed pathway to the AFLW for the girls on the South Coast."

According to AFL NSW/ACT, football participation for women and girls has grown by more than 550 per cent in NSW and the ACT since 2010.

Nationally, the number of women and girls playing community football has swelled to greater than 70,000 in 2021, the largest yet seen.

"Accessibility and equality are crucial, as girls are always keen to learn something new, to try new sports and they often dedicate themselves to more than one sport in the week," Robinson, who was on the coaching staff of the Shoalhaven youth women's representative side in 2021, said.

"Aussie rules has been this new sport on the block and will continue to grow, as the AFLW continues to strengthen."

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Despite the number of women and girls playing football, coaching involvement is still male-dominated, with women making up fewer than 10 per cent of coaches nationally.

"AFL on the South Coast, has, up until recently, been a male-dominated sport, so the reception I received as a female coach, was initially met with complete surprise," Robinson said.

"They assumed I was the team manager and my male team manager was the coach.

"That [10 per cent] statistic is staggering and I'm not sure why that's the case.

"My guess [for being deterred] is their experience in the sport and confidence in their abilities to coach a game they may not have played themselves."

Women's coaching month aims to inspire more females to take up leadership roles to address this gender imbalance.

"It is hard to explain the two-way street that coaching is," the Artie Smith Oval-based coach said.

"I have loved it from the moment I offered to take three kids (two boys and my daughter Lily) for a kick, while the club sought a coach for the under 10s - which ended up being me within the next week.

"You receive as much, if not more than you give.

"The connections you make, the sharing of your passion with others, the enriching of the lives of your players through the encouragement of physical activity and the life skills that come from committing to, and being a part of, a team sport.

"The strong, positive female role model that you become, is the role model female athletes need to see - be a part of the change."

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AFL NSW/ACT's coaching development and education lead, Ryan O'Keefe echoed Robinson's sentiments, stating coaching requires leadership, management skills and intuition, which are traits every person possesses, no matter their gender.

"Women's coaching month gives us an opportunity to highlight the great work done by our women coaches in community footy, they provide inspiration for players and coaches," O'Keefe said.

"I look forward to more women headlining football teams with innovation, passion, and the skills to develop players and create positive successful cultures."

Tiffany Robertson, head of AFL NSW/ACT, is grateful for all the women, like Robinson, coaching across the region.

"On behalf of everyone in NSW AFL/ACT, I want to thank our women coaches. Whether they are conscious of it or not, they are role models for their contemporaries and for future generations," Robertson said.

"We have a lot of talented and dedicated coaches out there and I can't wait to see more enter the scene every season to bring fresh ideas and fun to every scenario."

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