By the age of 11, the Fifer was playing alongside footballers often a decade older, and went on to represent Cumbernauld, Cove Rangers and Stenhousemuir. She moved to America in 1998 to play for Miami Gliders and then Atlanta Classics, before returning to these shores with Arsenal and then Edinburgh City. All while winning 65 caps for Scotland.
That experience is now being put to good use looking after the welfare and growth of Scotland’s best young female players – work that is complemented with two or three days a month on the Pro Licence, which is spread over 360-400 hours in total.
During that time, the students are given talks by other coaches and put through “intense, high-pressure” practical scenarios, and MacDonald has also been picking the brains of her class-mates.
“The men’s game is a lot quicker, so my decision-making has to be a lot quicker as well,” she says. “Girls are very different to coach – they like to ask a lot of questions and sometimes like to be told ‘don’t’. Girls can be more sensitive whereas boys can brush it off a bit more easily.”
Managing in the men’s game is not something MacDonald has considered, but she would like to succeed Kerr as national team coach one day.
“I think looking after the A team is always in my sights,” she says. “You have to know where you want to go as a manger, coach and leader and, for me, there are so many opportunities in the women’s game.
“It has given me so much. My passion and desire is to give back to that game and allow the players I work with to have the same wealth of experiences and success and happiness from that, that I did.”
BBC Sport has launched #ChangeTheGame, bringing more live free-to-air women’s sport across the BBC this summer than ever before. Complemented by our journalism, we are aiming to turn up the volume on women’s sport and alter perceptions. Find out more here.