What we did: Active Schools piloted a student intern programme with SRUC University to offer
current students an opportunity to develop their project management skills. We worked with 3rd
year student Rory Tait who tasked with planning and delivering a project within Active Schools. Rory
chose to dedicate his time and effort too on a girls football project as he saw this internship as an
opportunity to promote girls football and also increase participation levels and ability levels of the
girls involved. Within this project Rory, along with Active Schools, established 2 different girl’s
football events and sessions for various age groups. The first event was for Primary 3 and 4 girls’ and
was held at Belmont Academy on the 11th June 2015. 25 girls attended this event, mainly pupils
from within the Belmont Cluster there was representation from all over South Ayrshire. The event
was run in partnership with Ayr United Football Academy. Prior to this event, each school in the
Belmont Cluster received 2 in-school taster sessions from AUFA and Ayrshire College Coaches. After
these sessions the girls were then invited to receive coaching for four weeks at a central venue in
preparation for the festival on the 11th June. The sessions were delivered by AUFA coaches and Rory
himself. These sessions took place at the Old Racecourse and Whitletts Activity Centre every
Thursday.
The second festival was held at Caledonian Park, Prestwick in partnership with the Scottish Football
Association. We worked alongside Shirley Martin, the SFA Girl's & Women’s' Club Development
Officer. The aim of this festival was to introduce girl’s school football teams into a competitive
environment. 7 girl’s football teams from different areas of South Ayrshire took part in the festival.
The Schools participating were, Glenburn, Monkton, Dalmilling, Barassie, Ayr Grammar, Newton and
St Ninian’s Primary.
Why: This project was started as Girls football is on the rise more and more girls are becoming
interested in the sport. Having the opportunity and resources to deliver a project like this was not an
opportunity to be missed. It provided the girls with a local pathway to play football regularly, to
further improve their ability levels, and more importantly be active and have fun. A key aim of the
project was to increase participation from an early age. Introducing the girls to football at P3/4 stage
gives them an opportunity to learn the basic fundamentals of football, giving them more time to
progress and remain involved in the game.
Impact: The project was predominantly led by Active Schools in partnership with Ayr United Football
Academy and the Scottish FA. The reason for running the project in partnership with these
organisations was to provide the girls with a clearpathway into playing football beyond the project.
Club links with Ayr United and Caledonian Youth Football Club were established and this has
provided the girls with training arrangements to further their ability and increase participation at the
clubs. Most of the older girls who participated in the second festival at Caledonian already played for
a club, however for those who didn’t, the festival provided them with an opportunity to find out
about local clubs.
Conclusion: Overall the girls’ football project was a success as all the girls’ ability improved and this
was demonstarted when they were playing games at the final Belmont festival. The sessions in
school and outwith school aided in improving the girls overall ability. Setting up club links provided
the girls with a pathway to playing regular football after the festivals. The SFA festival provided an
opportunity for the girls to play against other schools and introduced competition into their games.
Rory researched the project and was aware of which groups he wanted to target and was keen to
provide a pathway for the girls who were interested in football. He established club links and also
got the SFA involved. After all of the festivals and coaching, Active Schools evaluated the project
with Rory. The conclusion was that if the P3/4 project was to be repeated we would open the
sessions and the festival up to all schools within South Ayrshire to further improve participation
levels. We would also look to establish community based after school sessions over a longer period
of time to give the girls more coaching on the skills needed for them to progress in football.