Girls United won the Tampox Tax grant allowing us to create “Trailblazer” programmes across 5 new venues. These are active workshops around life skills and personal development for girls in South London. The trailblazing players are paired with female volunteers who attend the sessions as trailblazing role models to support sessions and school leagues. This monthly blog aims to increase the visibility of the role models in our community.
Girls United coach and Dulwich Hamlet FC player Ana De Pellegrin writes about her experience in the Trailblazer programme
I am currently a football player for Dulwich Hamlet FC Women's and was exploring different avenues and pathways since finishing university when I was introduced to Girls United and the work they do in the community.
Photo Credit : Liam Asman
I started working for Girls United with no experience of coaching apart from what I had experienced as a player. These experiences with Girls United have not only helped me build and share my coaching skills and style but also challenged the way I think about how I play and see the game as a player. I find I have acquired more skills and resources that I can use to pass down the knowledge I have to this next generation of girls that we engage with.
I have worked recently on the ability of my coaching to engage with different age groups - I fully believe that their attention to the sessions and games links to their learning. Often as a coach you want to shape players around your way of thinking and understanding of the game, but during my time with Girls United I've come to realise it is not about moulding a player to be what you want but helping them grow within their own style and attributes.
Girls United on Coach Ana
Ana has been working on our Tampon Tax football sessions at Black Prince Trust supporting with the Primary School League event and the open training sessions for these players. She has also been coaching our Club Sessions and Open Drop-In sessions in the Peckham and Dulwich area which links to the aims of our Tampon Tax - to raise awareness of female role models within the community. The participants she engages with love to find out about how DHFCW have got on over the weekend with some being mascots and attending games with their families.