football

Women and Football Coaching

Female Coach Development is an innovative project aimed at sustaining the participation of teenage girls in football through the provision of more qualified female coaches. This three year project will produce a coach development model that demonstrates how barriers faced by women who wish to embark on a career in football coaching can be overcome to provide more qualified female coaches.

Overview

The London Playing Fields Foundation along with partners has developed a programme that aims to get more women involved in coaching football.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 October 2008 - 01 October 2011

Organisation:

London Playing Fields Foundation

Project name:

Female Coach Development Project

AudienceAll women

Age group:

16 - 24

Innovation

There has been little support for grassroots coaches wishing to progress from the Level 1 Certificate to Level 2 despite the significant increase in required levels of technical knowledge and understanding of the game. This project has tried to address this need by providing a mentoring system whereby the candidates are able to receive one-to-one support from a mentor throughout the duration of their Level 2 certificate. They not only have the opportunity to watch taster sessions, but to deliver and receive feedback on their own performance. At the end of the preparatory course each mentor completes an action plan for the coach so that they are able to identify and work on their weaknesses.

Recruitment and promotion

LPFF worked with the five County FA’s to recruit participants to the project. It also posted information on the County Sports Partnership website and directly contacted local women’s leagues. The project was officially launched by Hope Powell, England Women’s National Coach, on 16th October 2008 at London Marathon Playing Field, Greenwich. Hope was joined by her Assistant Coach Brent Hills, Faye White and Emma Byrne from Arsenal LFC and Anita Asante from Chelsea LFC. The event was attended by project funders and partners and it received good coverage in the local and trade press. In December 2009 Hope Powell returned to the project to celebrate its successful first year. The event received press coverage via the FA, London FA, Fair Game magazine and local press.

Location

Local

How was your project delivered?Football

Funding

The project has acquired funding for a three year period from various sources including Football Foundation, Jack Petchey, Nike, Sportsmatch and the London Marathon Charitable Trust

Partnership

London Playing Fields Foundation set up a project Steering Group comprising: London FA, Essex FA, Middlesex FA, Kent FA, Surrey FA, AFA, London Football Coaches Association, WSFF and SELKENT League. The Steering Group monitors the programme in terms of achieving its outputs and outcomes, ensuring that the project co-ordinates with existing structures and initiatives. It also checks that the project meets the needs of the target groups. In addition it is a forum for generating new ideas on how the project can continuously be improved, especially with a view to planning for future expansion and sustainability. LPFF works closely with the London FA to enrol candidates on their Level 2 courses and to support the recruitment of Level 1 coaches. LPFF and LFA have also worked in collaboration with two Girls Centres of Excellence to establish Saturday morning coaching clinics in order to introduce girls to the game.

Results

Lessons:

The project has just completed its first year and twenty five coaches completed a preparatory course and enrolled on a Level 2 course. All of the fourteen coaches who took their final assessment achieved the Certificate and this is a source of great encouragement and inspiration for new coaches joining the project. The feedback from the coaches has been very positive: “The preparatory course really set me up with confidence and knowledge for the week. It also motivated me and I look forward to the Level 2 course.” “I think watching the mentors deliver sessions and seeing what was required and expected of us and then delivering sessions taking on board things that they had employed was a very effective way of learning.” A number of monitoring tools were used to capture data from participants during their involvement in the project: -Application form -Attendance registers -Outcome Star -Post preparatory course action plan -Coaches’ feedback form -Quarterly monitoring following completion of the Level 2 Certificate course Of the fourteen Level 2 qualified coaches ten are currently coaching; with four prevented from doing so by injury, work commitments or travel overseas.

Evaluation:

The main problem that we have had to overcome is recruiting a group of young people with the appropriate ability and experience with whom the coaches could work during the preparatory course practical sessions. The Football Development Officer has worked closely with local clubs to recruit boys and girls teams for each block of sessions.

Themes

Facilities

Other

The venue for the project is London Marathon Playing Field, Greenwich, a dedicated mini-soccer centre and base for the SELKENT league. The pavilion is gender-friendly and the ground regularly hosts girls mini soccer tournaments for leagues and local schools. Through the project the ground has been designated London’s female coach development centre so that it can become a central venue for the delivery not only of preparatory courses but also for female coaching masterclass sessions.

Growing and sustaining participation

Tackling drop off

The purpose of the project is twofold: 1. To increase the number of qualified female coaches in the game 2. To retain the number of girls playing football By increasing the number of Level 1 and Level 2 coaches in the game it is envisaged that they will become role models for the girls they are coaching and they will provide a more empathetic and cooperative style of coaching. In doing so it will encourage more girls to stay engaged in the game therefore tackling the drop off in participation by teenage girls. The project involves the delivery of a five week preparatory course aimed at providing the coaches with an introduction to the demands of the Level 2 course. It also gives them the opportunity to watch the delivery of practical sessions and to deliver and receive feedback on their own sessions. During this preparatory phase the coaches become familiar with the Level 2 course content and their confidence increases.

Workforce development

Coaching

The focus of the project is to support more female coaches through their Level 2 certificate so that they are able to make a contribution to the female game either in a paid or voluntary capacity. The coaches are assigned to a mentor during the preparatory course who follows their development through the Level 2 course until the final assessment. The mentors are on hand to give advice and support to the candidates who are encouraged to return to the preparatory course sessions to practise their mock and final assessment topics if they require. The coaches are offered a year’s free membership to London Football Coaches Association so that they are able to access its programme of masterclass sessions and newsletter which features coaching and employment opportunities.

Talent development

Player pathway

The project provided London FA with financial assistance to subsidise candidates on Level 1 courses. Any outstanding candidates are identified by the tutors and recommended to join the Female Coach Development project to complete their Level 2 certificate. Outstanding candidates from the Level 2 course are recommended to the Girls Centres of Excellence, with five of the fourteen successful candidates now working within a C of E.

Confidence and self esteem issues

The purpose of the project was to provide the female coaches with the confidence to enrol on and to complete the Level 2 course. The courses are male dominated and this can be intimidating for some female coaches, particularly those that do not have a high level of playing ability. The preparatory course introduces the coaches to the topics covered by the course and makes sure they are aware of the technical and practical elements that they will be required to demonstrate. It gives them the opportunity to practise these sessions in a supportive environment and to receive feedback from the mentors and fellow coaches. The levels of confidence before and after the preparatory course have been measured and a marked improvement in the levels can be seen at the end of the course.

Health & wellbeing

The ultimate aim is to sustain the participation of girls by increasing and improving the female coaching workforce, so there will be a health benefit in terms of fewer girls dropping out of the game.

Key links:

http://www.lpff.org.uk/whatwedo_projects_details.aspx?id=758

Essex 7s women's football league

Since Jan 2008 ECFA has been running female ‘get back into football’ sessions within Essex’s Metropolitan Boroughs as well as outer Essex. The success of the sessions gave us the idea of offering those females an opportunity to play some form of competitive football. A one off 7s event took place in August 2008 with 5 teams taking part. Due to the success we made the decision to turn it into a league and we are now in our third season. Each league consists of 4 monthly events with all results rolling over each month to work out the eventual winners.

Project detailsProject duration: 01 August 2008 - ongoing

Organisation:

Essex FA

Project name:

Female 7s League

AudienceBME

Age group:

41+

Innovation

The project is unique because if offers ALL females with the opportunity to play football regardless of their lifestyle, ability, background, religion etc. The league is delivered in a relaxing and inviting environment which allows individuals and teams to develop and progress in their own time. There are friendship groups formed between players and teams which we believe is quite special.

Recruitment and promotion

The league is regularly promoted via Essex Fa’s website. Posters are also visible in Powerleague for any interested parties. The Gumtree website has been used to promote the league as well as for teams to recruit more players, which has been extremely useful. For the past two our October event has also been a One Game One Community sponsored event and as a result we have had FA Ambassador Lorraine Deschamps in attendance to hand out medals.

Location

Local

How was your project delivered?Football

Funding

The project is funding by Essex FA via the FA’s National Game Strategy funding. We also use our partner Umbro who provide all new teams with a free kit as well as equipment vouchers for returning teams.

Partnership

We work with Umbro for kit as well as establishing a positive working relationship with Fairlop Powerleague who host each event. This partnership has led to us delivering other events there including a schools disability league for girls.

Results

Lessons:

The development of female officials was disappointing. The league began life with us using female coaches as officials, however, due to discipline problems it was decided to use Powerleague referees which changed things dramatically.

Evaluation:

The success is that it continues to develop and is now coming to the end of its third league. It is also successful because we have been able to see two teams now playing affiliated 11v11. We have also linked two teams into affiliated clubs who have now established them as their ladies teams. Each month we have up to 70 females aged 16 and upwards taking part which may not have been the case should the league have not been created.

Themes

Growing and sustaining participation

The 7’s league has many different outcomes depending on how you look at it. It has helped to increase female participation by the flexibility of only taking place once a month which has brought new females into the game. It has also sustained participation by offering those females who may not want to continue playing 11v11 with a smaller format. There is one player taking part in the league who is registered as disabled. We have females from a number of minority groups and have teams from the LB of Newham and Waltham Forest which are classed as deprived areas. Teams that attend have included those with sisters playing together as well as one team with a mother and daughter. Two teams that began in the league have now transferred to the Essex County Womens League and play 11v11 affiliated football. The league is a good stepping stone for those teams that do have ambitions to progress or it is a welcoming environment for those that want to just play and have fun.

Rebranding and reversioning sport

The 7’s league is a flexible format of football which has been extremely appealing to the groups of females taking part. Many teams share players if numbers are low and there is a family atmosphere at games. At the end of each four month league there is a presentation and all teams bring with them a selection of food which also creates a family atmosphere. For some women football is a new sport and it is our responsibility as organisers to ensure that they get the best possible experience.

Targeting self-confidence and self-esteem issues

I believe that due to the huge mixture of ages, backgrounds, cultural and religious beliefs many barriers are crossed. For some women, taking part in sport and especially football is frowned upon so to have such a multicultural league is a real achievement for all those involved.