Crows AFLW players have been trying something new to gain an edge over the competition.

Speech Pathologist Elle Holiday from VocaLab recently visited the Club to take the players through some vocal training.

During the optional off-season session, Holiday took players through various exercises to train their voices to be more efficient on the field, improve the phrases they use when playing and learn how to care for their voices.

Holiday works with athletes to recover from voice injuries and retrain their voices.

She said she hoped the voice training would benefit the team both on and off the field.

“I’m expecting their on-field communication to improve so that everyone can hear each other from wherever they are on the field,” Holiday said.

“I’m also expecting their lives off the field to be enhanced as well because you can finish a game and then still go home and talk to your family and friends because the voice is more than just what you use on the field.

“We want to have prevention over treatment when it comes to sports athletes and their voices.”

AFLW Development Manager and Midfield Coach Courtney Cramey said it was a great chance to try something new and keep the players engaged during the off-season.

“It was a perfect opportunity to do something a bit outside the box and we wanted to engage the girls outside the four walls of the club to keep them fresh as pre-season came back,” Cramey said.

“This year we are focussing on our mental performance program and a big part of that is communication, so our ability to organise and instruct the game plan and structure on field is something we are really looking to improve.

“To get someone in who is a specialist in their field was great, Elle is a speech pathologist and comes from a health perspective which was important to ensure the girls are looking after their voices too.”