Year 5&6 #LetGirlsPlay Football Competition
The South Cambs School Sports Partnership recently hosted a fun afternoon of football at Cambourne Village College for girls in Years 5&6.
Twelve teams took part in the competition which was aimed at introducing new girls or teams to the game of football and giving them the opportunity to represent their school in a fun and friendly competition.
Matches were 7-a-side with roll on, roll off subs with teams getting to play against lots of different schools in quick 10min matches. A group of 16 girls from Years 7-10 at Cambourne Village College helped to referee all of the games on the day having attended an Introduction to Referee course delivered by Cambs FA.
The schools taking part included Histon & Impington Brook, Petersfield, Dry Drayton, Linton Heights, Great Abington, Trumpington Park, Jeavons Wood, The Vine, Willingham and Hardwick & Cambourne Primary Schools.
With the focus of the event being on providing an introduction to competitive football in a really positive and fun environment the results of the matches were not recorded instead teams were asked to score their opposition based on their teamwork, Fair play and their team/individual skill. These scores were then collated and at the end of the afternoon awards were presented to the following teams
Teamwork Award -Jeavons Wood
Fair Play Award -Hardwick
Skill Award -Histon Brook
Claire McDonnell, South Cambs SSP Partnership Manager said,
“It was a lovely afternoon of football and great to be able to give so many girls there first opportunity to play competitive football. They had a really fun time playing with their friends and representing their schools and they all left with massive smiles on their faces.
We hope that some of them will continue to play back in school and some may even want to join their local Weetabix Wildcats session or girls club. We are slowly seeing more and more opportunities for girls to play football in schools and the community which is great as we work towards ensuring all girls have equal access to football.
Some of the girls told me on the day how they don’t get to play in school as the boys don’t let them join in or dominate the playground so we are trying to change that and are working with schools to make sure girls have their own space to play at lunchtimes. Many of them saw the success of the Lionesses last summer and now they want the same opportunities to play football as the boys.
Our next event is on Wednesday 8th March as part of the national #LetGirlsPlay Biggest Ever Football Session where we are working with local clubs and schools to get as many girls playing football on the same day as possible. If you are a local club or school or club and would like to get involved, please get in touch” cmcdonnell@combertonvc.org
