Crawley Old Girls Get Into Coaching

Two ladies from Crawley who’ve stood on the side lines for years have just qualified as FA level One coaches.

Carol Bates and Maria Iula Harris are from a generation of women that missed the female football revolution but thanks to the EFL Trust FFD programme they’ve taken up the sport later in life. They were introduced to football by Crawley Town’s COGS (Crawley Old Girls Initiative), which was developed specifically for older ladies, who have an interest and passion for football, but who may not have had the opportunity to participate before. In addition, the ladies have used their newly developed skills recently to help deliver a session to the rest of the COGS ladies, supporting grassroots football.

Nicol Mererdith from the EFL Trust commented: “It’s really fantastic that the COGS ladies have had this opportunity. Our FFD programme has certainly been a catalyst for women now taking the level 1 award. It’s evident that this will further develop the workforce, and create role models for future generations”.

Participant Carol Bates: “It was great to have the opportunity to take the FA Level 1 coaching course locally, at Crawley Town FC. As a local youth Club Secretary I usually only get involved with all the paperwork but it certainly gave me a good insight into how much work coaches put in when they coach our children. Having been on the sidelines as a parent for over 10 years it gave me a much greater understanding of planning sessions and what goes into running them. It’s given me a great deal of information to take on board and now I’m helping run a new U11s girls’ team, for our club Crawley United, I’ll be putting it into practice too!”

Maria Iula Harris commented: “I joined COGS just over a year ago for a bit of fun with some friends. Little did I realise that Thursday nights would become my favourite night of the week where I would get to don my football boots! Then, after only a year, I as so inspired that I decided to become a Level 1 football coach, which I passed successfully. I will be looking to start an U8 girls football team in September. I thank my lucky stars that I was given the opportunity to join a team like COGS and now I ill hopefully be inspiring young girls to take up the great game of football.”

The grant of £2000 from Crawley Town FC and the FA Community Shield Fund, allowed six young people as part of the Crawley Town Scholarship Fund to complete the FA Level 1 Award in Coaching at the Checkatrade.com Stadium. Delivered by Sussex County FA, attendees worked on various different modules to prepare them for coaching activity with the Community Foundation.

Scunthorpe United Clinch National Finals Title

The National Finals continued last week, and it was the turn of the boys from League 2 as all 16 teams journeyed to the International Futsal Arena in Birmingham.

The teams were split in to four groups of four teams, each team playing three matches with the top two teams qualifying for the knockout stages.

In Group A Southampton toped the group and were unbeaten with 9 points, in second place were Norwich with 6 points while Bradford City and Huddersfield Town finished the group with 3 and 0 points respectively.

In Group B Grimsby Town were also unbeaten finishing on 7 points after a draw earlier in the group, Shrewsbury finished second in a close group on 5 points with Brentford missing out by just 1 point finishing on 4 points ahead of Mansfield on 0 points.

In Group C Reading were dominant and finished the group with maximum points, conceding just two goals. Notts County finished second on 4 points while Huddersfield Town and Blackburn Rovers finished on 2 and 1 points respectively.

In Group D Scunny topped the group with 9 points while Plymouth Argyle made it through on 4 points, beating Cardiff City who finished on 3 points and Newport County on 1 point to complete the group stage.

The Quarter Finals started with Southampton v Shrewsbury Town, in a tight match the Shrews came through victorious while in the second Quarter Final Reading beat Plymouth Argyle to book their spot.

The Iron kept up their unbeaten streak for the day beating Notts County, while in the closest match of the knockout stages and The Canaries went all the way to penalties, the Mariners coming through in sudden death.

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On to the Semi Finals and Scunthorpe were again dominant in the North East clash beating Grimsby to book their place in the final while it was Shrewsbury Town who made it through in the other Semi beating Reading.

On to the Final and a first for Shrewsbury, the match was a fast paced affair with both teams attacking from the start but it was Scunny who gained an early lead before seeing the match out 5 – 2 to become Champions of the League 2 National Finals.

Kinder + Sport Kids Cup Finals at Wembley

The Kinder + Sport Kids Cups on the hallowed Wembley turf saw a Wimbledon double bill, the best goal of the playoff weekend and the dreams of 48 children come true. Prior to making it to Wembley, all those that took part had to go through a number of qualifying stages to represent their local teams.

In the League 1 final, Norton Free Primary School representing Sheffield United, met Eye Primary School representing Peterborough United, and following a dominant display ran out 1-0 victory! Mackenzie Maltby scored an absolute screamer of a goal… arguably the best of the Play-Off weekend! Although the Norton players saw a lot of the ball in the first half they were unable to take their chances, with Ben Kemp, Danny Church and Bradley Taylor all going close. The winning goal came in the 2nd half when a throw from Frankie Hirst found Danny Church, who passed it onto Mackenzie Maltby who struck a first time shot from 20 yards into the top right corner. It was a goal worthy of winning any game at any level and the full time whistle brought amazing celebrations amongst the Norton Free players.

Represented by Hilton Primary School, Derby County were crowned as the champions of the Kinder+ Sport Football League Kids Cup at Wembley Stadium, winning 2-0 over Ipswich Town represented by Britannia Primary School! Captain Kaide Gordon opened the scoring with a fine long-range effort in the first half before he turned provider for Jack Harrison in the second period.

Cleves School represented AFC Wimbledon in the League 2 finals, taking on Mansfield Town represented by Samuel Barlow Primary School. Wimbledon dominated most of the game claiming a 2-0 victory, despite an uneventful first half with Mansfield captain Aidan Reader taking a long-range free-kick, and Vigrass also seeing his effort steer narrowly wide of the post. Dons turned on the style in the second half, and went ahead through Munroe after he planted his shot into the bottom-left corner. Vigrass followed it up with a similar strike, rounding three Stags players before also finding the bottom corner of the net, ensuring AFC Wimbledon’s name was etched onto the Kinder+Sport Kids Cup trophy.
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Brentford FC Over 25’s Ladies Take Part in Charity Football Tournament

Brentford FC’s New Year, New You session started in partnership with Middlesex FA at the beginning of February targeted women over 25 to get involved in football. The session is held at West Ealing Bowls & Social Club on Monday evenings 7-8pm and has engaged over 20 women in the 12 weeks it has been running! It is a very social session where no previous experience or ability is necessary, just a fun environment to learn and play the game.

On Sunday 24th April, the ladies entered a charity tournament, for some it would be their first ever competitive match in football. Brentford Women’s FC club captain, Charlotte Tanner has been supporting the session by regularly attending the Monday evening session and was also with the ladies for the tournament. Charlotte spoke to us about the day.

“When Maria asked the ladies to play in a tournament for charity, all the ladies got really excited! She explained it would be against other women teams. ‘I’m not playing against men’ I remember her saying!”

“On the lead up to the tournament the question was shall we enter one or two teams. Lots of ladies who had joined the sessions over the last 3 months were very keen, so two teams it was; Buzzette’s and Queen Bees!”

“We all arrived at Osterley Goals on Sunday 24TH April, wearing the Brentford FC kit which made the ladies even more excited!”

“When the organiser was going through the rules I looked around and there were all male teams, two mixed teams and us! Some of the ladies were nervous as this was their first ever competitive game of football, having never kicked a ball before February but the ladies got straight involved and had a great time, all in aid for charity.”

“Over the course of the day we played around 10 matches. We stuck together as a group and the ladies showed their skills and team work with the guidance from Lorna, Brentford FC CST coach who has worked hard in explaining and teaching the game to all the ladies.”

“We managed to draw two games and win one! It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for all the ladies and everyone had a brilliant day out. Here is what’s some of them had to say about it,

Janae Pine, “It was a challenging tournament but we managed to match and beat some of our opponents, I enjoyed every second!”

Sharlene Brown, “It was great fun! Fair play to us for not doing a U-turn when we realised there were no other women! Nice family atmosphere as well.”

Maria Diaper, having never played football before has really supported the session and helped recruit a number of ladies said, “It was fun and enjoyable! We have come so far since we started training, and we have recruited a new player out of playing in the tournament today!”

Charlotte summarised the day and told us more about the FREE session on Monday evening, “It was a great day to show others that women can play football and have so much fun whilst playing!”

“When I go down to the session on a Monday evening, I know I’m going to have a good time. All the ladies are really nice and we have a great time learning about the game I love so much. It’s great to see women coming down with hardly any experience enjoying the sessions and finding and new way to keep fit!”

Wimbledon Double Bill at Wembley!

There will be a Wimbledon double bill at Wembley this weekend when the boys from Cleves School compete in the Kinder +Sport Football League Kids Cup at Wembley, leading the way for the first team who will then compete in the play-off finals against Plymouth for a place in league 1!

Joe Roberts, AFC Wimbledon Foundation’s Sports Development Manager, said: “We are proud that Cleves School have earned the opportunity to represent the club at Wembley and it’s even better that the first-team will be bidding for promotion on the same day. The performances from Cleves School’s footballers and their behaviour off the pitch has been a real credit to them and the football club. Let’s hope for a double on the day!”

Here is a special message from the boys at Cleves School, wishing The Dons good luck! This is followed by Ade Akifenwa, Lyle Taylor and the rest of the team returning the well wishes and giving a special shout out to all of the team:

 

 

New National Sport Strategy Tackles Inactivity

The Football League Trust is backing Sport England’s new Strategy for the future of sport that was released this week.

As well as continuing to support people who already play sport, there will be a much greater emphasis on groups who are typically much less active such as women, disabled people and those from lower-socio-economic backgrounds. 1487811_871411929554348_345700788928764935_o

Mike Evans, Director of Operations at the Football League Trust, comments, “The new strategy places a much stronger emphasis on the benefits that taking part in sport can bring, such as improving both physical and mental health, social cohesion and reducing crime. This is an approach that 72 Football League Community Trusts in our network have been taking with considerable success for a numerous years.  For example our Female Football Development programme, is very much about getting inactive women and girls from all backgrounds involved in sport with the focus firmly on fun and fitness.”

Arsenal and England women’s footballer Jordan Nobbs visits the Checkatrade.com Stadium Ball Court on Monday to promote the Crawley old girls (COGS) initiative. COGS is aimed at older ladies who have an interest in football and was set up through the Crawley Town Community foundation with funding from the Football League Trust Female Football Development scheme. James Boardman / TELEPHOTO IMAGES 07967642437

Sport England will spend £250 million to combat inactivity as part of five-year strategy which also include dedicated funding to get children and young people active from the age of five, Mike continues. “Because football clubs are in the heart of their communities they are very effective at getting young people active. Our Trusts an incredible amount of work in schools already with programmes such as Kinder+Sport Move and Learn are getting children active as well as teaching them the benefits of healthy eating.” 32

More about the strategy

The strategy will help deliver against the six health, social and economic outcomes set out in the Government’s Sporting Future strategy.

Key features of the new strategy are:   

  • Dedicated funding to get children and young people active from the age of five, including a new fund for family based activities and offering training to at least two teachers in every secondary school in England to help them better meet the needs of all children, irrespective of their level of sporting ability
  • Working with the sport sector to put customers at the heart of everything they do, and using the principles of behaviour change to inform their work
  • Piloting new ways of working locally by investing in up to 10 places in England – a mix of urban and rural areas
  • Investing up to £30m in a new volunteering strategy, enabling more people to get the benefits of volunteering and attracting a new, more diverse range of volunteers
  • Helping sport keep pace with the digital expectations of customers – making it as easy to book a badminton court as a hotel room
  • Working closely with governing bodies of sport and others who support people who already play regularly, to help them become more efficient, sustainable and diversify their sources of funding.

Read the new strategy Towards an Active Nation.

Hilton Primary School Prepare to Represent Derby at Wembley

A group of under 11 boys from Hilton Primary School have gone through their last steps of preparation before representing Derby County at Wembley for the Kinder+ Sport Football League Kids Cup Final.

Winning the Derby County Community Trust’s local and regional finals, Max Tolley, Kaide Gordon, Jack Leighton, Josh Pearch, Ben Horleston, Alex Birch, Harry Atwal & Jack Harrison qualified to represent Derby at Wembley in the National final on Saturday (28th May). It is there that they will take on representatives from Ipswich Town on the pitch ahead of the Championship Play Off Final.

Derby County Community Trust have been on hand to prepare the boys for the National Final. Friday 20th May saw coaches from the trust visit Etwall Leisure Centre for their last training session before Wembley. The session entailed passing and shooting drills, as well as a rundown of what to expect on the day of the final, where they will be treated as professional footballers.

The Hilton Primary School boys will also be given the opportunity to watch Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday battle it out for a place in the Premier League.

Following the training session, Hilton Primary Teacher Julia Coxon said:

“The boys are really excited to be playing at Wembley and can’t believe they’ve got this chance. Most of them have ambitions to go on and become famous footballers so it’s great that the Derby County Community Trust and Football League have given them an opportunity to play on such a big stage.”

On the teams’ route to the final she added: “Everyone at the school is so proud of them and what they’ve achieved, having beaten off competition from 80 other local schools to represent Derby County, then to come out on top against 12 teams at the regionals is a fantastic achievement. We are all behind them to go all the way on Saturday!”

Kinder +Sport Kids Cup Finalist Given Tour of the Stadium

Since representing Peterborough in the regional finals of the Kinder +Sport Kids Cup in Coventry, Eye C of E Primary School have become local champions!

The boys were invited to ABAX Stadium in Peterborough for the last home game of the season, taking a ground tour, and being paraded around the stadium!

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As a result of their victory, the boys have been given the once in a lifetime opportunity to play the North England Champion in the national finals, prior to the League One Play-Off Final on Sunday 29th May!

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The successful players were Matthew Mills, Cameron Broomfield, Sam Johnson, Ellis Young, George Whiteman, Riley Taylor, Luke Simpson Morris and Hayden Brown.

Headteacher Mr J. Webster was delighted: “What a fantastic achievement! We are so proud of the lads and are now busy getting as many parents and children as possible together to make the trip to Wembley to support our team.”

 

 

FA Girls Football Festival at Wembley’s Powerleague

More than 200 U16 girls from 26  Football League and Premier League clubs will take part in a special FA Girls Football Festival on Saturday 14th May from 8.30-13.00, at Wembley’s Powerleague. Ourselves and the Premier League have invited girls’ teams from across the country to take part in the unique 5-a-side tournament, which takes place before Sunday’s SSE Women’s FA Cup Final between Arsenal Ladies and Chelsea Ladies.

The three-year Football Participation Programme, aimed at driving female participation in football, has already seen over 60,000 girls, aged 14 and over, take part in a range of footballing activities, since its launch.

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Saturday’s event is the pinnacle of the season, with their ongoing hard work and commitment being rewarded by an invite to this fantastic tournament.

This one of a kind scheme is spearheaded by The FA, Sport England, ourselves, and the Premier League, with sessions across the country being delivered by the Premier League and Football League member clubs.

The celebratory FA Girls Football Festival will give the girls a chance to take part in a 5-a-side tournament outside the iconic Wembley Stadium, as well as having the opportunity to challenge their skills with a variety of innovative interactive equipment including Batak boards, Speed Cages, an inflatable target shoot and Quickfeet trials. To further enhance the festival experience, there will be music, hair braiding and face painting taking place throughout the morning’s competitions.

Created in collaboration with Continental Tyres the festivals provide an exciting, interactive football experience for both those new to the game and regular players. So far more than 35,000 girls have taken part in The FA Girls Football Festivals in association with Continental Tyres, which have been running successfully since 2011.

Oxford United Women’s Captain, Katherine Nutman and her teammate Lauren Haynes will be attending to join in with the girls’ activities and answer any questions the girls may have. Also in attendance are Referee Ambassadors Joanna Stimpson and Mary Harmer, delivering a referee workshop while Charlotte Lade will be delivering a freestyle workshop.

With the festival ending at 13.00, the girls will then have the chance to watch their heroes and catch all of the action from the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final in Wembley Stadium, just next door.

FA director of football participation and development, Kelly Simmons, said: “Our festivals, run in partnership with Continental Tyres, have been a huge success since they launched.

“One of our big areas of focus is getting more girls to play football and we are grateful to both The Premier League and The Football League Trust for encouraging and supporting their Clubs to participate in both our participation programme and in this special festival.”

“We also know the power of role models and I am sure that going to watch the SSE Women’s FA Cup final in the stadium, watching an exciting game of football and seeing so many excellent players will be a real inspiration to the girls.”

Guy Frobisher, Marketing Director UK, of Continental Tyres said: “The FA Girls Football Festival with Continental Tyres continues to grow year on year, giving tens of thousands of young girls from around the country the chance to get involved with the sport. At Continental Tyres we are extremely proud that 2016 is our 6th year partnering with the FA and undoubtedly is set to be the biggest and best so far. Who knows, perhaps in a few years’ time we may see a number of our festival attendees playing for their country”.

Crawley COGS compete in FA People’s Cup Final in Sheffield

On Sunday 20th March, the Crawley COGS descended on Sheffield for the FA People’s Cup final. With two teams entered under the female veterans category, the COGS were placed in a group with four other vets teams from across the country. The first match of the day saw the two COGS teams pitched against each other in a nervous encounter. COGS 2 were the eventual winners, running out 2-1 winners against their peers.

The course of the day saw both teams compete in 10 minute matches against: Football Unites, Racism Divides, N16FC, Hackney Jurassics and the Wolfies. Despite a heroic effort by both COGS teams, it was FURD and Hackney Jurassics who made it to the overall final, with the latter securing the overall bragging rights with a 4-0 victory. crawley cogs2

Despite the results, the COGS had a fantastic day. All games were played in very good spirits, with all teams supportive of each other. Following the games, contact details were exchanged by all teams, with the view of running a summer tournament. All teams have also pledged to do their bit to get more teams involved next year!

Carol Bates is one of the original members of COGS, and has been influential in the success of the programme. She says: “This time last year the COGs (Crawley Old Girls) was just a dream. Since then, we have formed a large group of older ladies for a kickabout on a Thursday night and the COGs have now gone from strength to strength, with the coaching delivered by the Community Foundation.  It really has changed the lives of some of our ‘Old Girls’.”

Amy Fazackerley, FFD lead says: “The ladies should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved over the past year. Their commitment to raising the profile of ‘older’ ladies football has been fantastic. They are so passionate about getting others into the sport and have worked tirelessly to promote and inspire others. To get to a national final less than a year after first kicking a ball is an incredible achievement. In terms of the day itself, it was brilliant to see the teams interacting with each other. It was a day full of laughter, with some new friendships developed on the way too”.

Crawley Town FC and Crawley Town Community Foundation are delighted at this fantastic achievement. In just under a year, the group have gone from never kicking a ball to a national final, and have inspired many along the way. The aim now is to get more older ladies involved.