We interviewed Girls United coach Bryony who started her journey volunteering on the Trailblazer programme and is now completing her FA Level 1 coaching certification and working on Girls United football programmes.
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.
Why did you get involved in coaching or volunteering with Girls United?
Football has always been a massive part of my life. I inherited my dad’s lifelong allegiance with Birmingham City, attending my first Blues game at around 8 years old. After playing since I was 10 years old it’s so important to me to get girl’s interested in football from an early age, as for me there wasn’t too many opportunities. Football, for instance is not on the curriculum for the majority of girls across the UK so unless you found yourself a club outside of school it was hard to get into.
After the women’s world cup I was so inspired to help the next generation of girls, Girls United offers a safe space for girls to play football, whilst having fun. It’s also so rewarding, seeing how much the girl’s improve in both their game as well as their confidence and meeting new friends along the way.
How confident do you feel about coaching now and what has helped?
After completing my level 1 qualification in coaching I feel a lot more confident in my ability to deliver sessions. The qualification has opened my eyes to a lot of different approaches to sessions and has also helped me within my own game. I feel a lot of people could learn a lot of things from coaching, as I also feel it helps with other areas of your life. There’s a great Netflix series called The Playbook, whereby coaches share the rules they live by to achieve success in sports and in life - I loved it!
What skills do you think you have gained since joining and qualification?
Since the qualification I feel communication has been key, not just verbal but also visual as a lot of people learn through seeing things on a whiteboard. Communication is vital within the game of football, every player needs to be able to communicate amongst themselves, particularly the captain. I also felt a confidence boost after completing the course as I was surrounded by a lot of inspirational women all supporting the movement, it excites me so much to see how much women’s football is growing.
What do you think is next in your journey as a coach and female in football?
I’m looking forward to getting back into coaching sessions with Girls United and applying all my knowledge of everything I’ve learnt. I am also going to be doing sessions with the grassroots team that I play for in the Super5 League. Women’s football has taken big steps at the peak of the game, but now the development and increased awareness must take place, this is why it’s so important for more females to get involved in coaching. It should not be a big deal for a girl to play football, there has to be more access for all ages and all levels, which is why I’m so proud to be a part of Girls United.
Any advice you’d give to someone to get involved as a coach?
My family always encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be and always supported me within football, whether that was taking me to and from games or helping me fund my kits. It’s so important to remember you don’t need to be perfect at everything to push yourself towards doing it. Take risks and be confident in your own ability, you don’t know how many people you inspire daily. As a female in football it can be quite tough because you are often faced with comments that might make you second guess but trust the process and have the self belief to achieve whatever your dreams are.