Congratulations to our wonderful Coach Heather Kirkland on being named joint Coach Of The Year by the Walking Football Association.
Heather initially came to a couple of Winchester sessions in the summer of 2022 to offer a little advice and encouragement to players (men and women) at our weekly Tuesday morning hourly meet.
However, players quickly realised that what she had to say was of enormous benefit.
She was invited to take on the role of voluntary coach, although she has no qualification badge, and the hour session was extended to 90 minutes. That enabled her to lead a 15 minute warm-up period, followed by 15 minutes of drills before we began playing games which she refereed.
Continuing into 2023 her expertise helped the club to apply successfully for grants from Winchester City Council and the Football Foundation to pay for new mobile goalposts and other equipment including pitch markers.
Heather also helped to arrange a club open day which included a match against a women's invitation team.
She also refereed some of our friendly matches with other clubs and was complimented by the opposition, before she successfully completed a WFA refereeing course in the summer.
Heather also fills a number of roles with X Saints women's walking football club in Southampton and although nominally only treasurer she also leads the coaching because of the strategy she has built up and the respect the players have for her.
For the past couple of years she has been south east regional player manager for the women's over 60s who won the regional tournament in 2022. She became manager because she was awaiting a foot operation but was eager to resume playing quickly.
In 2023 she stepped into the breach to become the England women's over 60s player manager, responsible for contacting players and organising trials, negotiating venues and dates and communicating with opponents all at her own expense. During the St George's Park world cup exhibition match she was also asked to referee.
She is always willing to listen to advice and equally keen to share and pass on her knowledge and expertise.
Walking football is forever in her head and is very much 24/7, although she does also work part-time.
It has all happened since 10 years ago when she required to have a knee operation and spent almost three months in a wheel chair but still completed a Race for Life.
Winchester Walking Football’s recent successes on the pitch are principally down to the learning from Heather’s sessions.
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