Squad Girls Football is an all-girls’ session aimed at 12–14-year-olds with the aim of creating a safe and enjoyable space for all participants. Squad Girls centres offers more than just playing football, it caters for all abilities and prides itself on participants making new friends, learning new skills on and off the pitch and most importantly, having fun and enjoying themselves.
In March 2023, we had Ellouise start attending our Saturday mornings Squad Girls session at the One Call Stadium. When Ellouise first joined our session, it was clear she was a shy character, as she lacked the confidence in talking or interacting with other participants.
Our Squad Girls sessions focus on a variety of aspects of football, from technical skills such as passing and shooting to tactical elements and game scenarios.
During the sessions we endeavour to develop the girls’ psychological skills such as confidence and concentration as well as creating a safe and inclusive environment for the girls to socialise. Through regular attendance of our sessions and with the support of expert coaches, Ellouise became more engaged in the sessions.
As the sessions went on, Ellouise developed her confidence with the social aspect of the Squad girls’ sessions, clearly shown by her interactions with the other girls attending the sessions, which then flowed into the footballing side of things as well. When asked about her experiences since joining our Squad Girls Centres Ellouise said “It’s given me more confidence. It has made me learn to keep trying, don’t give up, and keep believing in myself.”
As a result of her newfound confidence, Ellouise has now started to take on some leadership responsibilities in our Squad Girls sessions. Ellouise’s involvement in the sessions has had a positive influence on other participants. She uses her previous experience from when she first joined our Squad girls programme to encourage and supporting new members of the group who are often shy and nervous to take part. There have been many times where other participants see her wanting to be involved in the session, which then leads to them wanting to take more of a lead themselves. When asked Ellouise stated “I enjoy coming to Squad Girls because I get to play in a team environment, meeting new people and being able to play against and support peers”. I take pride in others being able to look up to me and have an impact on their footballing journey’’.
This shows the impact of Squad Girls with Ellouise now regularly supporting the participants with anything they need help with. She enjoys offering advice on improving a skill they are struggling with or simply to just have a chat with. She is a friendly face that all the girls know and is always approachable whether you are a participant or a coach.
Adam Glew is the coach who leads on our Squad Girls session and since taking over in September 2023, he is loving every moment of it. Adam is very proud of the improvement in Ellouise’s confidence. “Elouise’s confidence in herself has improved massively as she now believes in herself and doesn’t give up. She is now mentally stronger in game situations and if she is now disappointed with the results, she doesn’t let it affect her and keeps playing to her best standard”.
Adam adds “Ellouise now has a better understanding of the game and team effort as before she used to mainly focus on her own performance, but now understands that the team working together is just as important as individual effort as well and encourages her teammates when possible.”
When speaking to Ellouise’s mum Sally, she spoke of the impact our Squad Girls centre has had on her daughter with her now being inspired to join a football team. “It helped her become more confident to progress into a grassroots football team, Sherwood Girls. I feel Ellouise has developed her footballing skills massively since joining Squad Girls and we would like to thank the coaches for helping her take the next step.”
We believe Ellouise has big potential to go a long way with her Sherwood team, if she keeps to the same standard and continues to work hard. As a Community Trust, we proud ourselves on developing and seeing them improve through the years not only as players but also as people and seeing them working together and being kind to each other. As coaches when we see the progression of individuals it makes determined to improve every participant that we get through our doors right up until they leave us hopefully progressing into a grassroots team.
If you want to see how our Squad Girls sessions can benefit you, sign up via the Mansfield Town Community Trust website or come down to our session at the One Call Stadium every Saturday at 9am until 10am.