Words: Sam Attwood

Sunshine Coast FC has confirmed Tom White as coach of Fire Women in the PlayStation® 4 NPL Queensland 2016 season.

White previously coached Fire’s youth women to a third place finish in 2015 and will also be taking on Fire’s Under-15 girls in 2016.

White’s promotion comes as Sunshine Coast FC looks to strengthen its women’s division following the merging of the senior and youth women competitions.

White said he looks at the restructure as an opportunity to showcase the strength of Fire’s senior players.

“We’re able to bring together the best girls from both teams and I think we’ll have a really strong team next season because of that,” he said.

White added that coaching the youth women in the PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland 2015 season helped give him the experience that he needed to make the step up.

“I’m really excited to be given the opportunity by the club to move up and build a strong team for next year,” he said.

Technical Director Melvyn Wilkes said White’s appointment came at an ideal time following Football Queensland’s restructure of the women’s division.

“Tom has worked with a lot of the girls before, so it’s not like he’s coming in at square one,” he said.

Wilkes added that White’s promotion fits in with Fire’s philosophy of development and promoting from within.

“It’s not only about promoting young and successful players, but also young and successful coaches because at the end of the day, we have a responsibility to do both,” he said.