Two key awards and U13 grand final win caps top season
THE BeeGees have been recognised for their strong efforts on the field across the 2023 season including winning FQPL3 Women’s Coach of the Year at the Footballing Queensland Awards.
Amy Higgins won Women’s Coach of the Year after taking the Premier Women’s side to the preliminary finals, while centre back Kirra-Leigh Crouch won Women’s Player of the Year.
Kirra-Leigh dreamed to win the prestigious award in the next few years, however, did not think to win this year.
“I’m actually very happy I won the award, I knew it was such a big stretch and such an unrealisitic goal, but I fully didn’t expect to win this year,” she said.
“I thought only grand finalists could win but when they mentioned my name I was literally so shocked.
“The team kept it a secret from Amy and I, everyone told Amy she was there to support me, and everyone told me I was there to support Amy.”
Crouch said her coach was a deserving winner.
“She is very deserving of that award, not everyone sees all the hard work she puts in and out like in her spare time she’s trying to figure out the drills for our training ,how to improve us, and then in games obviously it shows,” she said.
“At the start of the year we weren’t going to actually have a Premier Women’s team, for our coach to even put the hard work in to get a team together, she also took over as coach mid way last season.
“The other centre back and I are always there to quickly shut down the strikers, and everyone always says I’m one of the best tacklers on the coast, because I throw my body on the line, you’ve got to give it your all.”
The 19-year-old has been playing football since she was 8, but her skills quickly developed, debuting as a premier women player two years younger than the average debutante.
“I’ve been playing for 11 years, but I started in the premier league at 14 years old for Buderim, which the youngest debutants are usually in U16s” she said.
“I was playing in the U16s, reserves and premier women when I was 14, and then I came to BeeGees three years ago.”
Kirra-Leigh also coaches the U13s girls team alongside premier women teammate, Molly McCaughey, who won the grand final on September 16, 1-0 against Kawana.
The two have been coaching the group of girls since the start of last year, and Kirra-Leigh said she’s seen a huge improvement in the team.
“They’ve improved incredibly, even as a team they’ve bonded so much, they are just like a big family, to see their improvements is just amazing,” she said.
“They were the youngest in their age group, and we struggled with injuries last year so we finished quite low on the ladder, so it was a big achievement to just make it to the finals, let alone win it.”
Both coaches were ecstatic when the final whistle blew to conclude the game, reeling with excitement.
“It was amazing honestly, it was so exciting even just to make it to the grand final, regardless of the results, Molly and I were just so proud of them,” she said.
“As soon as the game finished we just jumped straight up and we sprinted to the field and all our supporters followed soon after and we did our chant, it was just a good atmosphere.”
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Main image: The BeeGees Under 13s Grand Final winning team.
