Western United’s Women’s Development Squad head coach Mark Torcaso is continuing his efforts to prepare the Club for an A-League Women berth at the end of the year.
The training program is into its sixth week since returning in 2022, and Torcaso said it is providing the perfect add-on to the players’ club schedules.
“Consistency of training is important. That’s why we’ve incorporated the western united training session once a week,” he said.
“The reality is that consistency of training that much and increasing the intensity is whats important to be ready for that Day 1 (of A-League Women pre-season).
“That’s the goal for me making sure there’s a consistency of training, the load of training, rather than just going into an A-League Women season and expecting to train five times a week.”
Western United’s A-League Women licence is yet to be fully confirmed for the 2022/23, but Torcaso and the Club are well underway in their preparations for when that announcement is made.
The squad is still largely made up of Calder United senior women’s players, though Torcaso and his staff have been impressed by the impact of a few external players coming into the group.
“The good thing with NPLW is that everyone sort of knows each other, and a lot of these girls from other clubs are actually from the western area,” he said.
“It’s good to have that connectivity with the western area, but more importantly the girls know each other. They’ve played against each other week in, week out for the last five or six years. They’re adjusting to our side perfectly.”
Torcaso is continuing his role as Senior Women’s Head Coach at Calder United in 2022, but he said there is definitely a difference in preparation this year with big goals for Western United over the horizon.
“We’re obviously in a different mindset to where we’ve bene in previous years. We’ve got a lot of good young girls coming through in our senior side but also in our u19 and right through to our bottom ages. We’ve had one loss in our junior teams in the last three weeks which has been excellent,” he said.
“Results, yes, are very important to us, but ‘results’ for me now and for our staff is more about the preparation and progression of the players and challenging them to be ready for the next level.”
Western United’s women’s outfit set for first match in Tasmania
The Western United women will play their first match together when the development squad heads to Tasmania to join with the A-League Men side in just over a months’ time.
Last year saw Calder United compete against a Tasmanian select XI during the Maccas Festival of Football, but this year will give an opportunity for the girls to represent Western United fully for the first time.
“The last trip we went on to Tassie was excellent. We got to mingle with the A-League Men team, stay at the same accommodation, got to enjoy everything that they enjoyed,” Torcaso said.
“From a playing perspective, we’re just looking at an opportunity for our Western girls to play in a game, obviously on a good stage in Tassie. The girls are pumped, they know what’s coming.”
Torcaso will continue to lead the group in training over the coming weeks, with potential for a couple more external players to make their way into the squad.
Future weeks and months are set to bring about a number of exciting opportunities for women at Western United, and Torcaso is keeping everyone prepared for when each chance arises.
