A group of 25 female coaches have completed their first step to becoming football coaches by completing the EE Playmaker course as part of our project Playmaker to Pitch.

The project, designed by Leicestershire & Rutland County FA, ran twice during the half term break in February and offered females looking to get into coaching the opportunity to come together to complete the course. Taking place at Wreake Valley Academy and Crown Hills Community College, the coaches were given access to computers to complete the FREE online course, with support from female FA Mentors.

As well as completing the online course, there was also group discussions around the roles and responsibilities of a coach and highlighted the skills they already had, which would transfer across and make them great football coaches.

After completing the online modules during the morning, we delivered 2 hours of practical sessions which brought to life the STEP coaching principles they had learnt that day and demonstrated how they could adapt sessions plans to meet the needs of the various age and ability groups they were looking to go ahead and work with.

Follow up support has been offered with another Female only CPD event due to take place at Holmes Park on the 21^st March, and those who are over the age of 18 were invited to join our Women Coaching in Football Group, where they can network and socialise with other female coaches.

The course was designed due to only 8% of grassroot football coaches in Leicestershire identifying as female, compared to female players accounting for 14% of the playing demographic.

Having consulted with qualified female coaches, we identified there may be additional barriers for young players wishing to transition into coaching and for parents / carers to step over the side-lines and begin helping if they had not previously played or followed football.

Feedback from the project has highlighted that the main motivation for attending the project was that it was ‘female only’ and gave ‘opportunities to meet other female coaches’.

We would like to thank Crown Hills Community College and Wreake Valley Academy for supporting us in facilitating these sessions, and would also like to thank the following members of the FA team for their support in delivering:

• Sam Griffiths – Regional Coach Development Officer
• Puja Rana – Female Community Champion
• Leah Grant – FA Coach Mentor

We would also like to thank Leicester City in the Community, who supported the project by promoting to members of their Active Women Project, and for providing a member of staff to support those ladies with completing the course on the day.

If you would like to start your coaching journey, then head over to the FREE Online EE Playmaker course to get started.

For more information around additional support for female coaches, please contact our Football Development Officer, Karl Percival.