New Huddersfield Town Community Trust initiative
Huddersfield Town Community Trust has launched Female Football Development (FFD) session in association with the Football League Trust at the Zone.
The sessions take place at the facility on St. Andrew's Road every Tuesday between 6pm and 7pm, with girls aged 14 and above allowed to attend for free!
54 clubs, including Huddersfield Town and its community coaches, are delivering FFD sessions aimed at 14-25 year-olds with Level 2 qualified coaches, County FAs, Schools, Colleges and Universities to engage with fresh participants as part of the new FA Women’s and Girls’ programme.
Gemma Nichols from the Huddersfield Town Community Trust attended the first session and commented:
“Having played football myself from any early age, I think the funded FFD is a great avenue in getting girls into football through school and giving them the opportunity to further their interest in the game."
Rob Day, Football Development Manager of the Huddersfield Community Trust and Community Coach at The Zone, added:
“The majority of our work is aimed at children under the age of 14 so it’s good to be working with girls 14 plus and the FFD programme offers us an opportunity to get to work with girls who we might not normally be able to get to.
“Our focus is to try to get girls who are not already interested in football and hopefully help get them to a ladies’ team. I asked Gemma to come with us to be a role model for the girls and they asked her questions about girls playing football which is what we wanted.
“The girls did very well and we saw some good players, we will continue to work with these for 10 weeks and hopefully this might be the start of some of the girls playing football for a team. Who knows, maybe one day they could be the next Kelly Smith.”
Playing an integral role in the progression of the Women’s and Girls’ game, the Football League Trust is driving participation growth and retention as it delivers thousands of FFD sessions built upon an ethos of fun, friends, and fitness.
£2.4m will be invested over the next two years from Sport England funding in an attempt to make Women’s Football the second most played team sport in England by reaching over 40,000 new players. FFD is playing a pivotal part of this, accounting for over a third of the national target.
To learn more about FFD visit the Football League website by clicking HERE, by email via nmeredith@fltrust.co.uk. you can also follow the FFD on Twitter @FLT_FFD.
To learn how you can get involved with the scheme in Huddersfield, contact Rob by calling 01484 484189 or via email on rob.day@thezone.uk.com.
