At Bingham Town FC we have been working hard over the last few years to increase participation in our girls and women’s section. Two FA backed schemes are helping us do this; FA Wildcats and a new offering for adult women called ‘Just Play’.
Wildcats is a nationwide initiative from the Football Association to get girls from the age of 5 and up playing football, making friends and having fun. Our Wildcats coaching team are the extremely proud recipients of the first ever Inspiring the Future award from the FA!
After receiving lots of nominations for our Wildcats sessions, Michelle Marshall (Football Development Officer) from Notts FA commented on a few things that particularly made us stand out, including;
- Our Wildcats of the Week initiative to recognise positive behaviours
- The free Wildcats t-shirts we share with the girls to help them feel a sense of belonging to the group
- The great relationship and communication that the coaches and helpers have with the players and their parents/guardians
Since we started the sessions in the spring of 2018 our Wildcats programme has grown from small beginnings with just a handful of girls to now having over 30 players each week as the norm. As well as being a fun training session where they can learn to play, Wildcats is a great pathway into our girls section at the club. Players who started with us as FA Wildcats are now playing in matches on Sundays as part of our Under 8, U9, U10 and U11 squads and several parents have come on board as coaches and helpers to those teams. As we head into our fifth year of providing Wildcats sessions it gives everyone a real boost to be recognised in this way. Michelle came along to a recent session to present the team with the certificate, and it gives us enormous pleasure to now officially be providers of ‘FA Award Winning‘ Wildcats sessions at the club!
In contrast to Wildcats, at the adult end of the scale is our new ‘FA Just Play for Women’ initiative. Just
Play offers football to women of all ages and abilities, so no matter whether you are new to the sport, fancy a no pressure training session or are wanting to return after a break, these informal sessions are ideal.
Our Wildcats and Just Play sessions are friendly, welcoming and operate on a pay-as-you-go basis so if you can’t make a session there are no wasted membership fees to worry about. For more information on any of our girls and women’s football please visit our website at www.binghamtownfc.com or email [email protected]