Last night my teen daughter was buzzing. She came home from her first mixed hockey summer league game and declared mixed hockey is so much fun.
It is fair to say I have a very sporty daughter, her spare time is taken up with hockey and generally keeping fit, strong and active. I think nothing of walking into her room and finding her planking or doing sit-ups – she puts me to shame!
Therefore I am often found extolling the virtues of girls in sport, it gives them focus, strength and great confidence. It saddens me that research demonstrates that girls drop out of sport at alarming rates during the 14+ age group. Especially as my daughter is discovering that adult sport and the social side of it is so much fun. Last night Chloe played in a mixed gender team with individuals aged from 14- 50 (she thinks, although she is not good at guessing ages) and she loved it. She said it was fast and the skills she saw being used has inspired her even more than she already was – and that comes from a girl where a hockey stick is not usually far from her hand.
Chloe surrounds herself with like minded friends and two of her friends play in a girls football team and have done for years. They enjoy their Sunday morning games and both are pretty damn good with a ball. It is refreshing to see girls getting into football – and not just as spectators! A Girls’ Football Week is taking place next week from 25 April, which aims to highlight the opportunities for girls aged 7-16 to play football. Girls football is growing both in respect and popularity but still we need to do more to encourage girls to play. Kelly Smith, who was made an MBE in 2008, is an English football forward currently playing for FA WSL (Women’s Super League) club Arsenal Ladies and she knows just what girls face.
Whilst growing up in Watford, North London, Kelly regularly played football on boys’ teams until she was kicked out of Garston Boys Club aged 7 (despite being the top goal-scorer) when the parents of her male opponents complained. She carried on playing football at Pinner Girls, a team formed by her father, moving onto develop her skills at Wembley Ladies, making her senior debut in 1995. She has since accumulated over 100 caps for the England women’s national football and is England’s record goal-scorer with 46 goals. Kelly also played in the women’s football team for Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympics. Now that is the sort of role model I want for my girls.
I would certainly encourage my younger daughter to take up football especially when I know that there is such an active club in our local area. We are lucky to have so many local teams and I have already witnessed firsthand the joy and impact sport has on raising strong, happy girls.
To play football and find your local football opportunity, go to The FA Play-football to find local football opportunities to you.
PIN FOR LATER
