Block 1: August 2015- October 2015
The girl’s football project has expanded this year, Active Schools put in place cluster clubs in 5 areas
of South Ayrshire; Belmont, Prestwick, Troon, Girvan, and Maybole. The purpose of this was to give
P3/4 girls an opportunity take part in football coaching for 5 weeks, and participate in a festival at
the end. The cluster club sessions took place on a Thursday after school, and were delivered by
senior pupils and student volunteers supported by the Active Schools team. The senior pupils
delivering the sessions had the opportunity to improve their coaching skills, as well as giving the girls
taking part an opportunity to play football.
“My favourite part was the festival at
Prestwick Academy, we got to play lots of
games against girls from other schools.”
Tiegan Nicol, P4 Barassie Primary School
“I love playing football, we have been practising all
our skills, its great fun and I can’t wait for next
year!”
Gracie-Jo O’Neil, P3 St Patricks Primary School
The aim of the festival was to give girls in South Ayrshire an opportunity to play fun games and link
them to local clubs. The festival was held at Prestwick Academy after the 5 weeks of coaching, and
ran in partnership with the SFA through the FIFA initiative “live your goals”. This initiative has been
developed to attract girls to play football and aims to keep them in the game. The festival was also
supported by senior pupils who delivered at the sessions, who helped in setting up the pitches and
refereeing the games.
The girls played 7 minute 4v4 matches within their clusters and played against different teams. The
girls were then given a pink “live your goals” adidas t shirt after the festival was finished. The t-shirts
were supplied by the Scottish FA as part of the initiative. Over 50 girls attended the festival
representing each cluster of schools in
South Ayrshire.
The festival and the coaching sessions
provided the girls with a pathway into
playing football regularly to further
improve their ability levels, and more
importantly be active and have fun.
Increasing participation from an early
age was a key aim of the project as
introducing the girls to football at P3/4 level gives them an
opportunity to learn the basic fundamentals of football.
This in turn gives them more time to progress and play for
a longer period. A number of girls have now moved on to
play with Caledonian YFC and most of the girls have
returned to the girls have football sessions which are still
running in the clusters to further improve their ability
levels, and to have fun playing a sport they love.
Block 2: October 2015 – December 2015
Girl’s football was then continued for another 6 weeks to
further improve participation and the ability levels of the
girls taking part. The reason for continuing the sessions
was due to popular demand of girls wanting to keep
playing the sport. The cluster clubs were again delivered by
Senior Pupils and Student Volunteers.
“I have loved being part of this. It’s been great
experience and really helped me develop as a
coach.”
Keiran McLaughlin, S6 Queen Margaret Academy
“Working with the girl’s football project has
helped us develop our coaching ability and
techniques for College, looking forward to
working with the girls again next year.”
Jamie Agnew & Evan Martin, HNC Students
Ayrshire College
“My girls have been attending these football
sessions since the summer, and they absolutely
love it. Huge thank you to all the coaches for their
enthusiasm.”
Susan Graham, Parent
Block 1 August – October
Term
Aug –
Oct
Aug –
Oct
Aug –
Oct
Aug –
Oct
Aug –
Oct
Location
Marr Playing
Fields
(Outdoor)
Prestwick Ac
Age
P3/4
Day
Thursday
Time
4:30 –
5:30
Weeks
5
Festival
SA
Festival
Attendees
P3: 9
P4: 11
Coaches
Keiran Gallagher
P3&4
Thursday
4-5pm
5
SA
Festival
12
Belmont Ac
P3/4
Thurdsay
4 – 5pm
6
Carrick
Academy
Victory Park
P3/4
Thursday
4- 5pm
6
P3: 19
P4: 11
P4: 8
P3-4
Thursday
4.305.30pm
5
SA
Festival
SA
Festival
SA
Festival
Louis McInotsh
Fraser Paterson
Carragh Roberston
Lauren McBlain
Rory Tait &
Taylor Patterson
Ryan Douglas
Mark Devlin
3
17
Block 2 October – December
Term
Oct –
Dec
Oct –
Dec
Oct –
Dec
Oct –
Dec
Location
Barassie
Primary
School
(Indoor)
Prestwick Ac
Age
P3/4
Day
Thursday
Time
4:30 –
5:30
Weeks
6
Festival
Christmas
Party
Attendees
P3:10
P4:12
Coaches
Keiran Gallagher
Evan Martin
Jamie Agnew
P3-7
Thurs
4-5pm
4
N/A
12
Belmont Ac
P3/4
Thu
4 – 5pm
6
N/A
Girvan
Primary
P3-6
Thursday
4.305.30pm
8
N/A
P3: 11
P4: 2
30
Louis McInotsh
Fraser Paterson
Lauren McBlain
Cameron McKenzie
Stephen Baird &
Miguel McIntosh
4
During block 1 over 87 girls from Primary 3 & 4 took part in the Girls Football Programme
throughout South Ayrshire, with over 50 of the Girls attending the South Ayrshire Festival at
Prestwick Academy. In block 2 a number of the clubs were opened to P5 & 6 pupils with
participation reaching 77 girls. In total 16 coaches took part in the programme across the 5 locations.
Future Plans
The next step is to develop a 4 v4 girl’s football league for the next term, this is to introduce the girls
to the competitive side of the game and understand the responsibilities of being part of a team. The
girl’s football sessions will be open to P3/4 and P5-7 pupils as we are aiming to increase the number
of girls playing football in South Ayrshire.
Active Schools now have recruited 2 voluntary student interns from SRUC who have been selected to
take on lead roles in managing and promoting Girls Football in key target areas, Maybole/ Girvan
and Whitletts Road. These areas were identified in Term 1 as having low participation rates and the
Interns will look to deliver taster
sessions, link with local clubs/
community groups and increase
participation at Cluster Clubs.
Overall the girls’ football project
was a success as all the girls’
ability improved, this was
shown when they were playing
4v4 games at the festival at
Prestwick Academy. The
sessions after school at the
cluster clubs improved the girls overall ability in learning the basic fundamentals of football.
Developing club links provided the girls with a pathway to playing regular football after the festivals,
although there is still some work to be done to make girls more aware of the pathway into clubs.