Category: Girls Soccer

Categories
Girls Soccer

3rd Feb’16: 30th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day

In case you haven’t heard, February 3rd marks the 30th annual National Girls and Women in Sports day, which is dedicated to recognising and celebrating the momentous strides in sports that girls and women have made throughout the years.

One specific set of regulations surrounding athletic equality and women’s sports, which has had a tremendous impact on this advancement, is the implementation of Title IX. As a law that prohibits any discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs, Title IX is a key component of the foundations of female athletic compliance within today’s youth.

Here is an infographic created by Ohio University’s prestigious athletic administration program, which illustrates the importance of Title IX on women’s equality in sports and where they are today. While women only received 2% of college athletic budgets in 1972, by 2010 they received 40% of budgets thanks to Title IX.

Below is the full infograph

Additionally, the theme of this year’s National Girls and Women in Sports day is ‘Leading the Way’ which is perfectly captured by this infographic through recognizing women who have paved the way for all women in sports and inspired younger generations to follow suit. It also illustrates the challenges that women have had to overcome and the inequalities they still face. For example, while women coached more than 90% of NCAA women’s teams in 1972 (time of Title IX), that number dropped to about 43% by 2012.

Infographic below:

-End

I always like to hear your opinions and views. If you feel you have something to say, please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. As always, thanks for reading.

I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer

Project Fun Direction

Ciaran Duffy a Coach with a dream to get more girls participating in sport in Dublin’s Inner City.

Their Mission: In Ireland, for lots of identifiable reasons, many young girls don’t get the opportunity to experience and participate in sport in their own community, where we can set them on the road of a lifetime of sports participation and all the benefits that offers. We aim to provide girls aged 5-8 with a gateway into numerous sports where we can equip them for a more fulfilling engagement with sport growing up. They will learn about healthy nutrition while developing confidence, social skills and learning to win and lose with dignity.

What’s the reason behind this? 

For a number of years now, it has become obvious to me that Irish society doesn’t offer young girls from disadvantaged areas the same opportunities in sport that boys get or girls from more advantaged areas. I’m a big believer in what sport can do for child development regardless of ability and believe all kids should get those opportunities regardless of means, address or gender. I have also seen what good FUNdamental coaching can do for kids of this age in terms of making them physically literate so that they get more fulfilment from any sport when they start going into a team setting at age 9-11. I’m also a big believer in kids trying and taking part in as many sports as possible. For many obvious reasons such as family structure, lack of transport, limited facilities etc, it’s my view that girls from disadvantaged areas such as the north inner city don’t get exposed to age-appropriate coaching in their own community.

What does Project Fun Direction offer? 

I have established Project Fun Direction which initially involves 2 multi-sport camps for girls aged 5-8. We have 5 days in St Mary’s Youth Club East Wall starting next Monday July 28th and then 9 days in O’Connells School, North Circular Road starting Tuesday August 5th. The girls will experience 3 sports per day rotating around Football, Camogie, Cricket, Athletics, Martial Arts and Rugby. I have also arranged to supply a healthy lunch and the UCD Institute of Nutrition are coming in to do a fun session with the girls on nutrition and healthy eating.

How long will the project run for? 

I will run a once-weekly multi-sport activity in these locations throughout the year when the camp finishes. Ultimately, how many we get coming back over the next 6 months will determine the success or otherwise of this pilot but my plan would be to roll it out in other areas if successful. Dublin City Council have come on board with coaches in a number of sports and I have sourced the Camogie coaching through a personal contact while I will do the football myself.

Have many girls signed up for the camp so far? 

I have almost 40 girls signed up for both camps and expect to be close to capacity of 50 in each. 90% have not played sport outside of school and all seem interested in coming back on a weekly basis although this will depend on how much fun they have next week I suspect ! The girls are paying €10 per week for the camp as I have raised funding privately to conduct this as a pliot and received other support from the likes of Dublin City Council and the venues

To find out more about Project Fun Direction go to Project Fun Direction page on Facebook or their Twitter page @projfundir. 

-End

I always like to hear your opinions and views. If you feel you have something to say, please comment below or email me info@thecoachdiary.com If, you don’t have anything to add then please forward this on to a friend. As always, thanks for reading.

I’m also on twitter @Coachdiary

 

Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer

Fingal Festival of Football all set for Saturday 17th August, AUL

Fingal County Council in partnership with the FAI are delighted to launch this year’s Fingal Festival of Football which takes place throughout Saturday 17th August at AUL, Clonshaugh.  The FFF, previously known as the Harmony Cup, is now in its 11th year and although the original competition was developed solely as a cross-border football tournament for boys only, it has over the years broadened to a more inclusive Fingal Festival of Football, catering this year for 30+ teams across five sections: boys, girls, Special Olympics, and Irish Street Leagues.

This year will also see the running of the U10 and U12 Girls Soccer Festival which is held to promote the underage girls’ game, and an additional 100 girls are expected to attend on the day, to play a 5-a-side blitz and other fun events with the major emphasis on the fun and enjoyment of taking part.

In speaking about the Girls Soccer Festival, Paul Keogh FAI/Fingal County Council Development officer said “we hope for a great turnout of girls for what is sure to be a great day out.  Girls can enter by forming teams, entering club teams or by individual registration. With the success of the Metropolitan girl’s league under the auspice of the NDSL it is an exciting time for girl’s football. Huge credit must go to Fingal County Council for incorporating so many strands of the game into one day”.

ImageSenior Sports Officer of Fingal County Council, Niall McGuirk, commented “The Fingal Festival of football continues to grow and evolve each year. We believe this is a unique day of football with inclusiveness a key aspect. Previous years have shown a fantastic standard of play and we would encourage all who might be interested to come along”.

The essence of the Fingal Festival of Football has not significantly altered from its original inception which is that it is not an ‘elite based’ football tournament but a community event providing a fun environment for young people to come together while enjoying their sport and an opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds, cultures and religious beliefs. This year teams will be travelling from all across Fingal county and the competition will also see teams from Louth, Meath, Northern Ireland & Wicklow.

  • For further information on the U10 & U12 Girl’s Soccer Festival contact: Paul Keogh Fingal/FAI Development Officer paul.keogh@fai.ie or 086-044 4435
  • For further information on the Fingal Festival of Football Event contact Niall Mc Guirk Senior Sports Development Officer niall.mcguirk@fingalcoco.ie or 087-120 6431
Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer

10th Fingal Festival of Football – Girls Football Festival 2012

The Fingal Festival of Football, now in its 10th year will take place in Sportslink, Santry, on August 18th.  The competition was initially developed as a cross border football tournament for boys. It now caters for 32 teams across five sections: boys, girls, Special Olympics, Powerchair and Irish Street Leagues with teams coming from communities in Ireland & Northern Ireland.

This year’s event will see the 2nd running of the U10 and U12 girls Soccer Festival being held on the day to promote the underage girl’s game. This event will consist of a 5 a side blitz and other fun events with the major emphasis being on the girls enjoying themselves.

Commenting on the Girls soccer festival, Paul Keogh – FAI/Fingal County Council Development officer added:

“we hope for a great turnout of girls for what is sure to be a great day out.  Girls can enter by forming teams, entering club teams or by individual registration. With the success of the Metropolitan girl’s league under the auspice of the NDSL it is an exciting time for girl’s football. This year sees support from FIFA with their ‘Live Your Goals programme’ which will only enhance the event with current Ireland female internationals expected to attend”

 For more information on the Girls Football Festival in conjunction with the Fingal Festival of Football contact paul.keogh@fai.ie or 086-0444435 or your local FAI/Fingal County Council Development officer.

Download Brochure here → Girls Soccer Festival 2012

Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer Irish Grassroots Football

Peamount 0-2 PSG

Peamount lost the first leg of their UEFA Champions league games against PSG by 2 goals at Tallaght Stadium earlier tonight. It was a spirited performance by the girls who held out for 71 minutes before the professionalism and class of PSG’s bench broke the deadlock in the second half. A massive crowd of 2109 people turned up at Tallagh to cheer on the Peas.

Peas Pressure

Early on Peamount had conjured up some chance of their own and seemed to be growing as the game wore on. Sara Lawlor was magnificent up front on her own and on several occasions had the PSG defence turn inside out. She never stopped running from left to right and making great runs behind the defence.

Just before half time, Peamount almost grabbed the opening goal when Sara Lawlor raced to the end line before forcing PSG Keeper pons into a good save. From the corner Grace Murray whipped in a dangerous cross, Louise Quinn throw her head towards the ball, which seemed to be going straight in until a slight deflection from a PSG defender took the ball just inches over the crossbar.

Quality Bench

On 71 minutes PSG sub Nora Coton-Pelagie who had just come on, struck a shot at goal from the edge of the area but it took a deflection on the way from Louise Quinn leaving Meehan with no chance and the  ball skidded into the bottom right hand corner. It was most unfortunate as Peamount had defended so well up until that point.

Peamount continued to press and Sara Lawlor none stop running had PSG defence working hard. The second goal arrived for PSG on 92 mins. Cindy Thomas broke the offside trap, and she fired the ball into the top corner with Peas ‘keeper Linda Meehan helpless.

A performance of real determination but unfortunately it ended in defeat for Peamount United, however they can hold theirs heads up high for a great team effort against one of the best teams in Europe. They travel to France still with a chance of progression and Coach Eileen Gleeson speaking to us after the match was very optimistic about their chances.

“We created great chance and I still feel the tie is very alive. We were a little naive at the end allowing them to score so late. we showed great strength and stamina against a professional side but to be caught like that in the end showed the little bit of quality and extra fitness between the teams, – Overall the girls had a good evening, they worked hard and closed down well but we missed chances with silly off-sides, lots of room for improvement but we have nothing to lose when we go to Paris”

This was my first ever Ladies champion league game and the Irish girls showed that we can compete with the best in Europe…Well done Peamount!

Teams

Peamount United: Meehan, Sinnott, Murray (S. McGlone 86), Duggan, Byrne, Quinn (Capt), W. McGlone (R Jenkins 53), O’Gorman, Lawlor, Comerford (JA Russell 49), Roche.

PSG: Veronique Pons, Boulleau(French Int), Lapailleur(French Int), Delannoy (C), Debonne, Houara, Pizzala(French Int), Poulain (Coton-Pelagie 67), Rubio, Dali (Prevost), Conforti (Thomas 63).

Referee: Ausra Kance (LTU) 4th Official Rhona Daly (Ire)

Attendance: 2109.

Return  match – UEFA Women’s Champions League:  v PSG, 05 October 2011

Big thanks to Gavin Early for organising all the press and interviews tonight.

Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer Irish Grassroots Football

Peamount fly the flag for Ladies soccer

With only a day to go for possibly the biggest game in Irish ladies club football – Peamount have nothing to fear against a highly rated PSG side. Peamount are representing Ireland having won the FAI Irish cup.

They were drawn alongside Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, ŽNK Krka(Slovenia) and Pärnu FC (Estonia), a group which they finished as runners-up. As one of the best two runner-ups they were the first Irish team ever to qualify to the knockout stages of a European competition.

Team Manager is Elaine Gleeson and Jason Carey director of coaching. Peamount’s players are also making an impact on the international stage; they had five players in the Republic of Ireland squad for last week’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2013 qualifiers against Wales (Won 2-0 – O’Sullivan scored 2 and France (lost 3-1). International Players: Grace Murray, Karen Duggan, Julie-Ann Russell, Denise O’Sullivan and Stephanie Roche.

The Story So far…

Glesson’s side had to work very hard their place in the last 32, starting with conceding a late goal in a 1-0 loss to highly rated Rayo Vallecano de Madrid (who have 3 Spanish internationals in the team) but then beating ŽNK Krka 7-0 and Pärnu JK 5-1 to go through as one of the two best runners-up.

“This is a very exciting time for women’s football in Ireland,” said national coach Susan Ronan. “The new National Women’s League will continue to nurture and develop the women’s game at domestic and international level. This new National League will be a cornerstone in the future success of our game.”

PSG

PSG who were runners up last year in Division 1 Féminine players to watch are:-

Katia – Brazil (3 world cups and 2 Olympic games)

Élise Bussaglia (French Player of the year)

Sonia Bompastor (2 time player of the year, won Champions league 2011)

Laure Boulleau , Laure Lepailleur, Caroline Pizzala and are all French internationals.

The Division 1 Féminine is one of the top women’s domestic leagues in Europe currently ranked third behind Germany’s Fußball-Bundesliga and Sweden’s Damallsvenskan

Wednesday First leg

Round of 32, First leg – 28/09/2011 – 19:45 – Tallaght Stadium – Dublin

Email this page
Categories
Girls Soccer Irish Grassroots Football

Girls Soccer Festival

I don’t talk enough about girls football so always delighted to give it a bit of a plug and taking place on Saturday August 20th in Sportslink (Santry) from 1pm-3.30pm the FAI in conjunction with Fingal County Council’s Harmony Cup Tournament are running a girls fun soccer festival.

The fun girls only blitz element of the day is open to two age groups u11 & u13 and teams or individuals are welcome from clubs, communities and youth groups.

Multiple entries from teams or groups are welcome as the format for the blitz is 4v4.  To register for the festival blitz please contact paul.keogh@fai.ie or 086-0444435 or your local FAI/Local authority Development officer.

Girls Soccer Festival

Speaking to Paul recently and commenting on the girls soccer festival Paul added “it should be a great day with teams registered already from Wicklow, Kildare and of course Fingal.  It is open to all and there is a capacity to cater for a large amount of teams.  Alongside the fun blitz event will be an inflatable football pitch, a speed radar challenge and a shooting accuracy test as well as other activities.”

Spread the word peeps and if you know of any girls looking to get into playing this beautiful game, no better chance then to try out theirs skills down at the Harmony Tournament.

I have attached a poster to this post which you can download and put up at your club, community centre etc Girls Soccer Festival 2011

Application form also attached FCC Harmony Cup-FAI Girls Festival – Application Form

Email this page