An overview of the Working with Female Players Youth Conference -

The youth theoretical workshop prompted great group discussions, during this workshop the attendees were split into their relevant age groups

U10, U11 and those looking to set up a mini soccer team had discussions with Gavin Lemmon (County Development Manager) based around understanding what works well when setting up a mini soccer team.  Another good talking point came from ‘retention V winning’, which was questioning whether the team ethos implemented was helping the girls enjoy the game or lose their interest.

Meanwhile, team managers and coaches involved with the U12 and U18 age groups were with Stacey Annison (Football Development Officer (Girls & Women)). This discussion was centred around possible formats that clubs could introduce to engage with the non-registered players that were regularly participating in Norfolk County FA programmes. Those present came up with some fantastic ideas which started to give an insight to what is actually there to take advantage of.

Within this group, the ‘retention V winning’ question was also discussed, resulting in lots of solutions being spoken about other ways of working with female players.

Firside Foxes U14 and Worstead Wolves U14’s were the two female teams used for the Coach Education session which was delivered by Jackie Bushell (FA Youth Officer (East)).  The girls took part in a ‘Soccersize’ session and other fun, goal specific sessions that were ran to music with the players having great ownership with the sessions. Feedback from players to the coaches observing was fantastic.  All of the players enjoyed their experience on the Field of Dreams and being a part of a different style of session delivery.

An overview of the Working with Female Players Adult Conference -

A number of teams playing in different tiers of the female football pyramid attended; there were a good mixture of current players, managers and coaches in the room which really added great value when it came to group tasks and understanding the trials and tribulations that each of them were going through. 

The traditional game was up against the modern lifestyle in one of our in-depth group discussion of pointing out the key points for each which led perfectly onto the question of, ‘what is the ideal format of football that would suit you?’  To hear all the different versions of the ideal format of football were very interesting, hearing those views started to bring in a whole different perspective when thinking about working with female adult players.

Another interesting task was given to them, when the FA Female Football Universe was briefly introduced to them. Each group was assigned one of the seven recognised female football typologies and were asked to complete the following three instructions; briefly outline your female player profile, come up with a format that suits her needs and demands and finally to identify whether they had or have this type of female player profile within their team, and if so how could they accommodate a format of football to suit their needs.

As in-depth as it sounds, all groups took this brilliantly and really got into understanding that not all of their players want and can do the same thing and that variety is what is needed when working with them.

Moving on to the coach education session, delivered by Jackie Bushell to Long Stratton Ladies FC was slightly different compared to the youth delivery, however the ladies thoroughly enjoyed themselves and it was great to hear the feedback from coaches looking to try some of the sessions out and most definitely giving the players more ownership.

The Norfolk County FA Female Football Education Conference was a fantastic success this year, with a revitalised structure and appealing agenda it saw over 50 volunteers attend across the two dates, which is the highest attendance to date.

Stacey Annison (Football Development Officer (Girls & Women)) was delighted with the success of the conference and was impressed with the participation of those in attendance.

“Seeing positivity, networking and encouraging discussions taking place throughout the evening was very refreshing. I have got plenty of notes to review which is excellent and to know there is a demand for this is extremely exciting. I cannot wait to organise and deliver the next one.

“I would like to thank everyone that gave their time to attend, the teams we used and also Jackie Bushell for delivering on both conferences”