Gary French
Gary spent 12 years coaching in the United States where he established a broad network of key people in the soccer community. The first two years were spent with Midwest Soccer Academy in Michigan, which is a Dutch Academy run by Klaas De Boer and he hired some of the best coaches from Holland including former Manchester United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen. The coaches went to the USA to work throughout the summer before heading back to clubs such as Ajax, PSV, Cambuur, etc. Gary learned a great deal from these coaches, an experience that convinced him Australia is heading in the right direction with the Australian National Curriculum following the Dutch Philosophy.
After coming back to Australia Gary was employed by Football Queensland as a development officer before being appointed as the inaugural Technical Director for Palm Beach Soccer Club. In 2014, Palm Beach Men’s team won the QLD NPL title and made the quarter-finals of the Westfield FFA Cup before being eliminated by the Central Coast Mariners. That same year Gary coached the Palm Beach Women’s team to runners up in the Brisbane premier league and losing in the Grand Final. Gary was voted Brisbane Football Women's Coach of the year.
Gary is from St Ives, Cambridgeshire in England and football has provided him with incredible opportunities to travel and play football all over the world.
Gary's playing career was with Peterborough United, Barnet FC, and Cambridge City in England and a stint playing in Hong Kong then ending in Australia playing for Broadbeach FC and representing the Gold Coast Gamblers. It was while at Barnet that Gary played against such teams as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Tottenham and also played in the Anglo Italian tournament in Italy, then Portugal, and Holland. After Gary finished his playing career in Australia he left for Michigan USA and took on the role of Co-Director of Coaching for the Bloomfield Force FC. During this time Bloomfield Force Women’s Program was voted in the top ten in the US. After a successful ten years, Gary left Bloomfield FC to take up the position of Director of Ultimate Soccer Arenas, which was the largest indoor facility in North America.
