On Tuesday 5 March 2019, a group of Year 8 and Year 9 girls went to Harlow Leisure Zone, to take part in a Game of Our Own workshop, run by the Youth Sport Trust in partnership with the Football Association. The aim of this programme was to give students the tools and personal skills needed to come back to school and share their passion for the game to promote girls’ football to students at Notley High School & Braintree Sixth Form.

Upon arrival, Faye White, ex England and Arsenal captain and Rachel Yankey, ex England and Arsenal player, gave inspirational talks about their careers and their love for football. They discussed the obstacles and barriers they faced as girls wanting to get involved in football, and how young girls still face many of the same obstacles today.

The students were split in to two groups. The Delivery Group (Phoebe U, Phoebe S, Leah and Lyla) worked with a range of students from other schools and did team building exercises and games to help them get to know one another. They then spent much of the day learning about and creating their own ways to turn football drills into games and make them fun and appealing to girls to make them want to join in. The aim of the delivery workshop was to give the girls plenty of ideas to bring back to school with them, which they can use in the planning and delivery of their own football club starting next half term.

The Marketing Group (Charlotte, Millie, Darcy and Khola) spent time looking in more detail at what might stop girls taking part in football, and how they could be a positive influence to help other young girls overcome these barriers. They designed and presented their own marketing campaign, called Game on Girls, to the other schools in the group, in which they had lots of excellent ideas and demonstrated that they had got a deeper understanding of why other girls their age might not play football as they do.

The highlights of the day were the half-time talk, where the Delivery and Marketing Groups met up and shared what they had learned so far during the day. It was great to hear all of the ideas they had for implementing what they had discovered back at school, and how they could make it work for their peers. The students also got to meet two ex England players, have photos with them and talk to them about their careers which the girls definitely enjoyed the most!

Miss A McLean
PE Teacher