Carruthers Executive Community Coach of the Month – June

The VAFA is proud to celebrate the outstanding contributions of coaches who go above and beyond to support their clubs and embody the values of our community. Each month, we receive nominations that highlight inspiring stories of dedication, leadership, and impact and June was no different.

The Carruthers Executive Community Coach of the Month for June is John Parker from Old Scotch. 

John has been involved with Old Scotch for more than four years, serving as an Assistant Coach of the Women’s teams. Based on the nomination, it is clear that John has made a significant and positive impact across the Stars program, supporting the Seniors, Reserves and Under 19s. Through his dedication, knowledge and commitment to player development, John continues to help build a strong, connected and successful playing group. 

John Parker was nominated by Dean Anderson who is the Senior Coach of the Stars Program at the club: 

“John is our Senior Assistant Coach. John has developed a large portfolio of defenders that are well organised, committed and successful in their contribution to the overall Stars program. He provides support throughout the entire Stars program (Seniors, Reserves and U/19s). Both players and coaching staff respect John for his character and competency. His character is backed by his team first attitude and his reliability to do what he says he will do. His competency is broad and has built a level of trust that has been valuable for our group. This is John’s 4th season with the Stars program, he barely misses a session, is trusted completely with player development and has coached senior football in my absence. He is very calm and controlled with his coaching and is comfortable offering up ideas and challenging the broader coaching group. His calmness under pressure has a significant impact on the team around him.

“He will focus on what he can impact and doesn’t waste time worrying about things outside of his control. John spends every Sunday analysing our game and produces a report that provides the evidence that we use for player feedback and development as well as team trends in key KPI areas. He is a wonderful servant and has been instrumental in our back-to-back premierships. From my perspective (Senior Coach), he is a perfect teammate.

Quote from our full back ‘John is very committed, reliable, and has great knowledge of the game. He has the ability to know when to keep us in line and I find when he is talking especially in the backline meetings, everyone is focused and taking in every word. He’s also very calm under pressure or at least he doesn’t show his stress. He is very highly respected by the team. When he provides feedback, he makes sure it’s relevant and tailored to each player.”

We commend John’s continued contribution to his club and the wider VAFA community. 

Nominations for July are now open!  

Submit your nominations for Carruthers Executive Community Coach of the Month here.