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Community advocate using football to promote inclusion in New Zealand

Eilish Graves has been a sports administrator, volunteer, coach, athlete, and academic. Currently, Eilish serves as the Academy Operations Manager for the Wellington Phoenix Football Club, the first and only professional football academy for women in New Zealand. On top of her day to day role, her mission is to ensure a safe training environment for all athletes and to provide equal access to sports for individuals from marginalized groups, such as the disability community, refugees, and LGBTIQ+ communities. Eilish believes it is important to give all athletes a voice and ensure they are supported, respected, and empowered.

Eilish is passionate about using sports, especially football, to bring people together thanks to the different ways it can be more inclusive of others. In 2019, Eilish was appointed the New Zealand Deaf Football Women’s Head Coach for Futsal. In 2022, the Football for All Programme, an initiative Eilish drove on behalf of Wellington Phoenix, to promote diversity and inclusion, was awarded the Wellington Sport & Recreations Award following the Wellington Airport Regional Community Award one year earlier. Football for All currently supports more than 200 young people from recent immigrant/refugee and low socio-economic communities to play football through their local clubs. Following the tremendous success of this program and its importance in the community,  the program has now expanded to Christchurch.

While participating in the GSMP, Eilish hopes to learn how sports clubs in the United States implement strategies for making events and game day experiences, and website/social media accessible for all fans. She also would like to build upon her communication experience and learn new strategies to better influence change. She is excited to build a network within the GSMP program to collaborate and support each other beyond the program end date.

Eilish will be mentored by Jo Wallen, Senior Director at the National Campus for the U.S. Tennis Association.

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