Freedom Adds Four to Coaching Staff

2019 is a pivotal year for the USA Freedom women’s national team program, as coach Christina Licata builds her team and staff not just for next year’s International Cup, but for the 2021 Trans-Atlantic Cup, and beyond.

While the brick and mortar of the program is the playing group, no building can stand without a foundation, and so the coaching staff that Licata assembles around her will play a pivotal role in the program’s success.

To that end, four more pillars have been added to the Freedom foundation structure for the new IC structure whose experience in the game and match preparation are par excellence.  They come on board in time for the first training camp of the year, in Phoenix at the end of March.

Kathryn Hogg – Assistant Coach, Talent

Kathryn (Kat) was born in Adelaide, Australia to non-Australian parents but grew up in the USA after living in 4 countries before the age of 7.  She was first introduced to footy when ESPN launched in 1980 and was a founding member of the Minnesota Freeze in 2004.

She was the leading driver behind the current day women's competition in the USAFL and was responsible for making the women's division a part of the USAFL Nationals.

Kat has represented the USA Freedom at all events through the 2011 International Cup and has played more than 100 games in her footy career.  In 2014 she joined the USA National Team coaching staff as USA Liberty Forwards Coach.

Lucy Parrington – Assistant Coach, Development 

Despite growing up in Australia, Parrington spent her childhood playing ice hockey rather than football. As a national team representative from the age of 15, she understands the challenges faced by athletes learning how to play, and competing in sports that are non-traditional to a country. While spending much of her time coaching ice and inline hockey in Australia, Lucy’s love for footy grew when she began her PhD at Victoria University in partnership with the Western Bulldogs Football Club.

Parrington played with the Port Melbourne Colts from 2014-16, gaining notoriety as a utility who did her best work between the arcs.  She helped lead her team to an undefeated premiership season in 2015, taking out Best in Finals in the process.  She moved to Portland, Oregon the following year where she joined a developing Sockeyes program that was thriving in the USAFL’s Women’s Division 2.  Parrington was one of the factors in Portland’s D2 Women’s National Championship in 2017 and Western Regional Championship win last season, where she was named tournament MVP.

In 2018, she took on the role of assisting skill development with Portland, and further helped consult with coaching staff for testing and drills conducted at the USA Freedom camp in Denver. Lucy currently works in the area of concussion and mild traumatic brain injury, evaluating recovery and rehabilitation.

Brandon Snider – Strength & Conditioning Coach

Like many Americans of his age, Snider first discovered footy through cable television as a child.  However, it was not until 2010, when he found the Portland Australian Rules Football Club while recovering from injuries sustained while training in Mixed Martial Arts, that he was able to actually kick a footy for the first time.  What began as a way to experiment with the strength and conditioning concepts he had been exposed to through MMA quickly became a focus of year-round training.

Snider soon began helping both footy and Roller Derby athletes with their strength and conditioning, working with a variety of levels of athletes who all shared the common goal of improving their physical preparedness for their chosen sport.

In 2017 he was Head Coach for both the Portland Sockeyes and Steelheads, before moving from the lush green of the Northwest to sunny Southern California.

Brianne Theisen, Development Manager

Theisen first heard about footy on TV at an Aussie bar in Japan, and ever since then she was hooked. She started playing footy for the Minnesota Freeze in 2012 and represented the USA on the Liberty from 2012-2014 and the Freedom until her retirement in 2016.

In 2017 she helped form the North Star Blue Ox, the first independent women's club in the and has taken on the role of head coach for the Blue Ox for the past two years.  In addition, she served as the assistant back line coach for the USA Liberty on their tour in Australia in 2017.

For more information about the Freedom and the upcoming talent camp in March, visit usaflfreedom.com.