Girls' section at Alcester Town continuing to grow

MORE and more girls are taking part in coaching sessions at Alcester Town.

And if numbers remain on an upward curve, the club hopes to launch its first-ever girls’ teams in the near future.

Richard Ireland, of Onside Coaching Redditch & Alcester, has been running the weekly sessions at the Stratford Road Ground since January.

From numbers as low as four, now there are around 16-20 regulars who are getting the chance to play football and receive coaching. Ireland hopes the numbers remain on an upwards trajectory so the Romans can create their own girls’ teams.

“We probably need around 30 girls a week to do that,” Ireland told the Herald.

“Stratford Town has a strong women and girls’ section and I know there is a demand for having girls’ teams at Alcester Town, so I’ve kind of filled that gap a little bit with the coaching sessions.

“The aim of the sessions is to get girls playing football but the long-term project is to have a couple of girls’ teams representing the club.

"Girls’ football is one of the fastest growing participation sports and as a father of a two-year-old girl myself, I want to make sure there are opportunities to play football not just for my daughter, but for every other girl.

“So far we regular attract 16 to 20 girls and that comes off the back of a successful schools tournament where more than 100 girls came to play football at Alcester Town

“If we can get around 30 girls at the sessions every Monday we could probably look at having two or three age group teams representing Alcester Town.”

Romans chairman Steve McAdam added: “It’s all credit to Richard. He is the one trying to build up the girls’ section and it’s gone from strength to strength.

"If we can get an age group girls’ team that would be absolutely superb.

"We tried to do it before but unfortunately it failed as we did not have the critical numbers at the age groups to form a team. So far, though, the signs are positive.”

McAdam said the hope was to have a team in place by September so girls could play friendlies, before thinking about entering them into a league for the following season.

With the school holidays approaching, Ireland revealed he will be running free sessions for the first four weeks to not only keep current players interested but to also attract new faces.

To attend the sessions contact Ireland on 07816 862828 or email ireland.r@onsidecoaching.co.uk.