In 2019, Kris Marano gathered the leaders of Fremantle City FC's women's program around a small boardroom table.
They were there to discuss the mental health crisis sweeping through their players.
"There were major mental health issues, on the spectrum from anorexia to suicide attempts," she said.
"That conversation was good to get it out there, recognising that we need to do something."
The group concluded that they needed to develop a way of addressing the issues before they became overwhelming.
"What was decided was that we're not mental health professionals, so we cannot necessarily address those things," Marano said.
"But we can start to put a program in place to allow people to feel like they have an outlet to say, 'Oh, this is something I'm dealing with'."
Role models needed
One of the initial aims of the program was to provide players with senior role models within the club.
"If we have some sort of sustained female presence in the lives of some of these junior girls who may be experiencing some of these things, maybe that can become a way for them to talk some of these things out and not keep them in," Marano said.
The mentorship program, called Gaining Ground, paired senior players with younger teams at training. They not only helped with the session, but also counselled the younger girls on issues in their lives that they were not comfortable discussing with coaches, who were often the fathers of other players.
"The senior girl would say, 'OK, here's a way you can deal with that'," Marano explained.
"The results that we're seeing is that just simply by having some of the older girls [around], they're [the younger girls] seeing them as role models."
Building relationships
What started out as a mentorship program evolved into a wellbeing initiative.
"We had different sessions where we had people come in and talk about the menstrual cycle, talking about psychology in sports, all those kinds of things," said Mikayla Lyons, a mentor and a player for Fremantle's National Premier League Women's team.
"It's like a free program where we can actually go and gain knowledge and interact with girls from all other teams within the club, and kind of build that relationship and that community."
Lyons is involved in sport at the elite level, working as a strength and conditioning coach for the Fremantle Dockers AFLW team and as a sports scientist for the Junior Matildas.
She is also completing a PhD evaluating the women's soccer talent pathway in Western Australia.
She believes the mentorship program will not only help retain girls in soccer through their teenage years, but will also open the door for senior players looking for a different role within the sport.
"We've had some people who have gone down and actually realised that they might want to coach in the future, or they might want to be a referee in the future," Lyons said.
"I also saw the need, especially within the youth space, to have that for the younger girls, that they can actually come to us and ask us questions and even confide in us a little bit, where they wouldn't usually be able to do that.
"We know that girls drop out due to different reasons and at different times than the boys. Girls drop out in year 9 to 10 because it's not cool anymore to play sport.
"So in terms of retention, I think it's really important to have that community feel to have that support around them, and that mentorship program where the youth girls can see older girls within that space."
Early benefits obvious
In constructing the program, Marano drew on the principles put forward by American researcher and author Brene Brown, who worked with the Richmond Football Club following its disappointing 2016 season.
She said the authors' views on vulnerability guided her construction of the program.
"Her principles are about building joy, connection and belonging. When we build those principles, that's what can create real change in our communities," Marano said.
The early evidence suggests the program is already having a positive impact on the club.
Surveys completed before and after the 2021 season revealed an overall improvement in player general wellbeing, in both the under 18 and under 23 teams.
For Jarrah Smith-Taylor, it has also provided an opportunity for the mentors to develop. She helps with the under 14 side at Fremantle.
"I feel like Gaining Ground offered a real vehicle for me to progress and to be a part of something worthwhile," she said.
"I feel like we talk a lot about mental wellbeing and we talk a lot about striving for women's equality in sport, but we really don't do anything.
"Gaining Ground offered me an opportunity to learn to connect with like-minded women to form a group and a movement … that we could actually make change."
"I have had players that I've spoken to because I might have got to training a little bit earlier, and I say, 'How have you been doing? How are things at school, how are things outside of soccer?'
"They can talk to me about those things and I can listen and provide the best advice and mentorship that I can."
Part of that change is leveraging the attention the Women's World Cup 2023 will bring when it begins in July next year.
Plans for expansion
Marano hopes to see the program expanded across WA, and eventually across the country and more sporting codes.
"The next step is to start partnering with local governments and state governments, with universities, local organisations and experts to grow the program leading up to the Women's World Cup," she said.
"We've got to do the work now. When we look at the strategies of local governments around creating healthier communities and connections and elevating women in sport and addressing mental health, this program does all of these things."
Gaining Ground has applied to become a charity, and is working towards expansion.
"We want it to grow as far and wide as it can. So we want it to grow across Western Australia. And we want to see it grow across Australia as well," Marano said.
