Life beyond Radford
Bec Goddard
What does life look for you now?
I began coaching at in local minor leagues in the Canberra area. I served as assistant coach at the Queanbeyan Football Club as well as becoming the first female coach in the NEAFL. In 2016 I worked as the Under 18 boys forwards coach for Woodville West Torrens.
In 2016 I was appointed the inaugural coach of the Adelaide Football Club's AFL Women's team. I was just one of two woman head coaches in the eight team league.
I coached the club to the premiership success in its inuagural season the following year.
In July 2017 I was named the coach of the Allies team in the AFLW State of Origin match to be played in September of that year.
I won the 2015 AFL Football Woman of the Year (honorary).
Outside of football I work for the Australian Federal Police in the anti-child exploitation team. I moved from Canberra to Adelaide in 2015 where I began pursuing a high level coaching career in football in addition to my work with the AFP.
I hold a degree in Journalism and once worked as a media advisory in the Labor government of the 1990s. I also hold a degree in Persian language from the Australian National University.
What is your favourite Radford moment?
The music and team dynamic in everything I did there. I never felt as a student that I was on my own, I always felt that whatever I was doing whether it be sport or music I was part of one big team. The Year 9 camp was a lasting memory too. This camp was a really important part of who I came to be despite the fact that I got injured and had to come home early…
Anything else that you would like to share?
What do you consider to be your lasting contribution to the college?
My lasting contribution was the start of the Rock Band (or "Show Band" I think it might have first been called). Up until starting this up with teacher John Fraser, Radford was a traditional music school with strings and orchestra music only. I now know that no matter what your love in music is, you have a choice to be whatever you want at Radford.
What is unique about Radford? Hard to say, because I'm not sure how other schools operate - but in my time at Radford, I found the teachers to be the most unique I'd ever had. It was a generation that was changing from the old, one where teachers were learning with you and were open to listening to conversations and taking how students felt seriously as a way to shape the school to what it looks like today.
