Football has been a life-long “passion” for Alex McMillan – and now he is giving back to the sport he loves in spades!
This year he has three coaching roles – Head of the ACE Kindy program (ages 3-5); Junior Technical Director of Miniroos (up to age 11) working with Club TD Hugo Labaredas; and Assistant Coach of the Senior Men in the state’s second tier FQPL 1.
That means, over the next nine months, Alex may be at our club (and opposition grounds) five or six days a week.
“I have played football all my life at different levels – amateur, semi-professional and professional,” he said. “Football has brought me a lot of joy and happiness.
“By taking on all these roles at ACE I try and give other players, from Kindy to the Seniors, the same joy and happiness I have felt.
“I feel I can give something back to all age groups I come into contact with.”
Alex has a wealth of knowledge having played professionally in Scotland and South Africa, coached Lions’ juniors, Moggill men and been assistant coach to Steve Glockner at Easts, before they joined ACE in 2018.
Here he helped our Senior Men win the Brisbane Premier League three times in four years, the Club Championship, Canale Cup and promotion from FQPL 2 to FQPL 1 at the first attempt.
Alex was also ACE Junior Technical Director in 2021 and last year coached the new ACE Under 23 squad to the FQPL 2 runners-up position and grand final.
This season he will draw upon 28 years of coaching to help ACE players from the age of three to over 30.
“My goals are, when I am coaching the little kindy players, that one day I will see those players coming through the ranks and playing in the first team,” he said.
“Each year I coach someone, my aim is to see improvement and make them a better player.”
However, Alex is quick to recognise the team which supports him.
“I love helping people and find it pretty easy to manage all the different roles as they are all football related,” he said.
“I also have a lot of help from people like Jason (Gilbert) , Kirsty Royley (when she was at ACE) and Jacinta, now she is the club administrator.
“As well as all the coaches at the club and the mums and dads.
“Together with my passion for football, I will always do my upmost to pass on the knowledge of football I have, to the next generation of ACE players.”
