Jan Stewart, Kingborough Lions Football Club

Jan Stewart photographed by Nikki Long

Football Faces Tasmania, recorded 2022

Why Jan matters

I used to see Jan most weekends at football.

She is one of those people who just makes you feel good. Always friendly. Always caring. The kind of person you naturally drift toward because her energy is calm, warm and genuine.

Football clubs run on people like that.

I do not think Jan is coaching at the moment, which honestly makes me a little sad. Because she is one of the kindest people I think I have known in football and that kindness is not softness, it is strength. The girls who come through coaches like Jan learn more than football, they learn belief.

Jan Stewart is one of those people who makes football feel safe.

Not safe in a soft way. Safe in the way that makes you try again. Safe enough to be new. Safe enough to be awkward. Safe enough to learn in public. Safe enough to be brave.

Football is damn lucky to have her and so are the girls coming through who do not yet know what they are capable of.

This is a Football Faces Tasmania story from 2022. Jan wrote it herself, straight from the heart. I am publishing it now so it has a permanent home.

Jan’s story, in her words

Some years ago now, I came into the game as a football mum.

My son was 7 at the time. My 10 year old daughter was watching his training session from the sidelines and said, “Mum, can I play?”

I laughed warmly.

“Girls do not play football,” I responded.

Two weeks later she was registered in a mixed team, and now at 24 she is still playing, when it stops raining in Northern NSW.

When our youngest daughters decided at 6 to play, I became a coach, and a learner player.

I was not ever very skilled in my football playing journey.

However, I did learn enough to grow my skill as a coach, and also a great love for the game.

Fifteen years later, and many, many hours on the football park coaching and playing, I finally feel like I am beginning to understand. Growing also is my confidence.

For me, this is what I want to be able to instill and grow in our youth girls.

With confidence comes strength, which empowers the players with the belief that they can achieve anything they set their mind to. It helps them find their way for their confidence and strength to shine.

It begins with them mastering the simplest of skills, such as passing.

Accurately.

Not every player knows their ability.

Not every player has a support base behind them.

Not every player knows what a football pathway is.

Not every player has good mental health.

To be someone in their lives that offers positivity and belief, and shows them what they can achieve through playing football, is so rewarding, and a great privilege.

Be brave.

Be confident.

Be strong.

This is what I wish for our youth players, and I believe that you can be powerful young female footballers.

These skills will carry you through life.

Jan Stewart

Football Faces Tasmania

Football Faces Tasmania was created to celebrate the people who shape Tasmanian football.

You know most of them. You see them at games, in the canteen, at the gate, organising the club, buying the equipment, coaching the team, managing the team, keeping the lights on, literally and figuratively.

Whatever their role, they volunteer for the benefit of many and their contribution should not be forgotten.

The questions are asked by Victoria Morton. Photos are by Nikki Long.

If you know someone whose football story should be remembered and celebrated, please tell me.