A Global Institute of Sport student at our Melbourne Campus has been speaking about her joy of receiving the Women in Sport Scholarship in partnership with Women Onside.

Anouk Meereboer, who is the recipient of the scholarship, studies MSc Football Coaching and Analysis (distance with attendance – Australia).

Originally from the Netherlands, she ended up in Australia and played football at NPL Level for several years.

Having previously been named as female coach of the year by Football Victoria, Anouk became the first female to coach a senior men’s team in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League.

She said that she chose to study MSc Football Coaching and Analysis at GIS to:

  • Learn more about coaching and football analysis and to develop myself further
  • Obtain a sport degree that hopefully sets me apart for others to obtain fulltime work in Football
  • Gain more of a network within the sporting world

She said: “With the Global Institute of Sport being reasonably new to Australia, but having a network across the globe, makes it only for a better experience.

“With the Master's degree, I hope to further develop myself as a coach.

“My goal is to be able to obtain a full-time coaching job and this Master's degree hopefully will set me aside from others that would like to develop a career in coaching.

“Additionally, the network GIS has is impressive, so to be able to part of this network will only help me to get into the sporting world.”

When her offer to study at GIS was accepted, Anouk applied for the Women in Sport Scholarship in partnership with Women Onside, and was successful.

“With the network that Women Onside has,” Anouk said, “they have linked me really quickly with two women that have a lot of knowledge and experience in the football world.

“I have a 'local' mentor in Deborah Nichols that I met a few months ago and recently during a trip back home to the Netherlands, I met Hesterine De Reus.

“Both mentors have offered me support, that I will definitely be using over the next period of time.

“While coaching, it's great to be able to bounce ideas and concerns with others, as well as gain feedback on your coaching, so I hope through this my mentors are able to push me to the next level.”

She finished: “In the short period I have been involved at GIS, I have learned a lot already and have had the opportunity to gain new experiences that all have been exciting.

“It will be a bit of hard work, but I think the reward will be there at the end.”

To find out more about the global scholarships available at GIS, click here.

You can also kick off your career and view a GIS prospectus here.