Provider Gibbon Wreckers Youth Football Club
Name Gibbon Wreckers girls-only sessions
Summary Girls in Brent have been offered the ?opportunity to get more involved in sport by taking up football training sessions at Olympic football player Rachel Yankey’s club in Brent
Gibbons Wreckers Youth Football club founder Rachel Yankey has been a bit busy over the past few weeks. The left-winger on the Olympic GB women’s football team has been relishing the experience that London 2012 has brought her and her teammates.
But back in Brent, the base of her Gibbons Wreckers club, young girls inspired by Yankey’s Olympic journey have decided to have a go at the sport themselves.
The club has put on girls-only training sessions because despite enjoying a membership of nearly 100 children, only a tiny fraction of these are girls.
Manisha Taylor, a female coach at the club, says having girls-only sessions is key to raising the profile of the game among young girls, and also encouraging greater interest and competition in the sport.
“Although young women and girls take part in PE at school, there is still lack of participation in some form of sport out of school hours, especially in football,” says Taylor.
“Young women cite bad coaches, lack of support from schools and not enough opportunity to play. As a result of this, having a girls-only initiative is crucial as it gives girls the chance to play in an environment that they would be comfortable in and less intimidated.”
Led by a troupe of Football Association-qualified female coaches and with the opportunity to work with Yankey herself, the girls are provided with a set of positive female role models.
Thanks to Fair Share Trust, a local funding programme in Brent, the club has been able to offer two scholarships that will allow free membership to the club for a year.
As well as courting more female talent to the game, the football club is keen to increase the number of girls from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
“Having a girls-only week is clearly needed,” adds Taylor. “Having girls-only sessions may help in making girls think of the sport as being fun and enjoyable in a friendly and welcoming environment.”
