The girl’s section of Burton Joyce Football Club is going from strength to strength. Back in the summer of 2020 the club had two girls’ teams, fast forward to the spring of 2022 and they have six teams with no signs of the interest slowing down. The focus of the girl’s section is on player development both on and off the pitch, football just happens to be the vehicle
The focus on the girl’s section of the club gained momentum when four Dad’s stepped over the white line to set up an U11 team in the summer of 2020 for their daughters to play in. It consisted of 9 girls from school years 4 & 5, a bag of borrowed balls and some cones from Amazon. At that point they didn’t have a coaching badge between them but what they did have was masses of enthusiasm and passion for the game. The 9 players quickly multiplied to 30+ girls so before the season even kicked off 1 team turned into 2 and the U10’s and U11’s was born. The end of the 2021/22 is rapidly approaching and what started as 9 players are now 55 girls across 4 teams, U8’s, U11 Greens, U11 Blues and the U12’s. These new teams are in addition to the original U13’s and U15’s the club already had and takes the club to having 80+ girls all loving playing the beautiful game. The four Dad’s that were the catalyst for the growth are now 8 coaches and several other volunteers in various roles through the girl’s section.
The 2021/22 season saw BJFC graduate their first ever U8 girls’ team from the clubs locally renowned Mini Greens soccer school. The young squad were entered into the NGLFL U8 development league and are loving every minute of their new adventure and end every game with a tug-of-war. The popularity of girl’s football is so great that the club have waiting lists at most age groups which is an amazing advert for the club as a whole and for the community that has bought into the positivity the girls section brings.
The work being done locally caught the attention of Notts County Women FC via Burton Joyce’s very own Holly Fowler. Holly was born and bred in the village and began her own footballing journey at the club at a time when they didn’t have a dedicated girls programme, so she played in a mixed team. Holly’s own progression sees her captaining Notts County’s 1st team and being a true role model for girls. Holly introduced BJFC to Notts’ 1st Team manager Adam Dunleavy who was so impressed by the coaching set up and development at play he wanted to offer further support from the club. This support came in the form of the first partnership of its kind and BJFC girls became the first ever grassroots partner for Notts County Women. This was a huge accolade for such a young development programme, and it has enabled access to coach development delivered via dedicated CPD sessions, coaching for the girls of BJFC from Notts County Women coaches and access to 1st team matches which saw the girls of BJFC walk the teams out at a recent cup game against NFFC Women. Each girl from BJFC will receive season ticket for the 2022/23 season. There are plans in place for this relationship to deliver so much more over the coming months and years.
The girl’s programme is about much more than football development and there has been a focus on gaining experiences from other areas. The girls of BJFC have gained some significant friends and role models along their journey to date. The first to come in and meet them was Mel Burgin who is a full-time female referee she popped in to run a training session and to talk to the girls about careers in football outside of playing the game itself. This was a brilliant session and reinforced the discussion Holly Fowler had with the girls about her own career path of studying to become an architect at the same time as playing football.
A constant supporter of the girls is none other than Paralympian Richard Whitehead MBE. Richard is the patron of many of his own great causes but always finds the time to support the club. The highlight of this support was delivered by none other than Ellen White of Manchester City and England. Ellen is a good friend of Richards and co-host of their podcast series Track & Ball recorded during the pandemic. Ellen heard about what the girls were doing during the pandemic from their weekly Zoom fitness sessions to recording videos of the extra training they were doing; Ellen kindly recorded a video message for them for when they returned to football to offer words of encouragement to continue their footballing education.
The girls are also giving back to Richard and his charity this summer when many of them and the coaches are taking part in the “Run with Rich – Your Way” event on 25th June 2022 at Holme Pierrepont. The event is an all-inclusive mass participation run which is a means of raising awareness and funds for the Richard Whitehead Foundation. To find out more information please visit https://www.whitehead.foundation/
Notts FA have also played their part in supporting the club with a dedicated female coach officer. The club have been fortunate enough to have had Natasha Buckland work with them on female coach recruitment. As part of the clubs’ girls and women’s development strategy they wanted a greater number of female coaches at each age group. The club has seen a big influx in this area and now has 5 female coaches and a dedicated female mentor across the girl’s section. The club have had three Mum’s take on two boys’ teams, the U13’s Manager is female and the U15’s have just taken on an ex-player as part of their coaching team. The club are confident this pattern can continue and grow and would urge any girls & women that are looking to get into coaching to get in touch with the club.
The girls have been very grateful for how their local community has supported them, so they wanted to give something back. Last summer they combined this with a sponsorship event and spent the day litter picking in and around Burton Joyce. Not only did they tidy the village up, but they also raised just short of £7,000 which has bought all 80+ girls at the club a full training kit. The training kit has really brought the girls a sense of pride and identity. A JustGiving page was set up for any donations the local community wanted to contribute, and they managed to find several local businesses that wanted to help in raising funds. This event also brought the club another unexpected contributor in local photographer Sue Toseland who had seen what the girls had been doing via social media and made contact to offer her services. Sue has since been down to Poplars Sports Ground and taken some amazing team photos and action shots of the girls. Its volunteer contributors like Sue that have elevated BJFC’s girls’ section to another level.
You can follow future updates and events and have a look at the other posts to date via their dedicated Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BurtonJoyceFCGirls There is much more to come from the Burton Joyce FC’s girls’ section in the future.