Girls United and Charter School North Dulwich partnered to create a bespoke Trailblazer programme to support more female students within the school to play football. The aim was to play football and provide active workshops for players and role models from the school.
We interviewed Kelly Poynton the PE Technician at The Charter School North Dulwich, on the partnership.
Introduction to you - your name, job role, interest / journey in football? My name is Kelly Poynton, I work as a PE Technician at The Charter School North Dulwich. I've been playing football myself since I was really young and am still playing now, throughout that I always helped out in coaching younger age groups, and then completed my Level 1 coaching badge whilst at uni, then more recently finished my level 2 badge - whilst taking on the girls football provisions at the Charter School over the last 2 years.
Can you please give a brief description of the interest of female football at the school? The interest in football at the school is quite high, we have a lot of girls interested in playing throughout all 5 age groups, years 7-11.
How do you think the Girls United programme was going to support students (before Covid-19)? Why did you want to partner with Girls United? The Girls United programme was only really just starting for us pre-covid, but already but we could already see that it was a good way to support students who may be interested in playing outside of school as well as offering fun sessions that everyone can engage with regardless of ability. We wanted to partner with Girls United, because it looked to be a really good opportunity for our female students to get a different level of coaching (what I mean by this is, that sometimes after school clubs can be difficult for teachers to run and plan something fun and engaging as they may have had a full busy day, and the clubs are less of a priority than lessons, so having an external company to come in and focus solely on the coaching means that the students have more of a chance of having a really fun and engaging experience in after-school club football). We also like that it is a girls only focused club as I think there needs to be more focus on just female football to help young girls progress and enjoy the sport, without having to fight for opportunities that boys may get more easily.
What do you think is needed next for females at the school or community to ensure football continues to grow? I think maybe more opportunities are needed to help continue to grow girls football. Most young players enjoy playing matches, tournaments and workshops etc the most and having something other than just football training will keep them more engaged. Unfortunately there aren't as many female school leagues and competitions set up in comparison to the boys provisions, so I think ensuring the girls football gets a chance to still have that competitive aspect outside of just an after school club is needed.
What are you excited for regarding the future of female football and how do you see yourself, the school and Girls United part of this? I think that female football is going in the right direction and slowly we are seeing an increase in popularity. I would like to continue coaching and helping organise more fixtures or maybe even competitions for students wanting to play football, I like to think the girls provision at the school will only increase and get more popular and I see Girls United playing a big part in this too.