Unfortunately we are not able disclose the name of this young female. Although we are able to only show a group photo from when she attended a Southend United match day through our Future Blues Programme (Free ticket scheme) – please see below.
We have a young female who attends a local school, Janet Duke Primary – previous to us attending her school to deliver we had been informed by the class teacher there was a young female who really enjoys playing football but does not have the confidence to take part in any sessions or clubs. The young lady was a slow learner, did not particularly enjoy School and had trouble concentrating. As a community we wanted to make this one of our aims to try and target this young female to be able to develop her football skills with the possibility depending on ability to try and get her to become part of our SUCSC u10’s squad.
We tasked one of our new full time female coaches to engage with the School in order to encourage young girls to join in with Sport and to increase participation externally.
After the initial 4 weeks of the young lady only participating in small parts of the session, we arrived in the 5th week to see the young girl in her PE kit and ready for our Football lesson. The turnaround was remarkable with her teacher commenting.
“Anonymous has grown in confidence over the past 4 weeks and it’s amazing to see her achieve her potential that we knew she had. The female coaching staff from SUFC have made her feel at ease and have made the PE sessions less competitive but still fun. We hope to work with SUFC over the remaining of the year and hopefully beyond”
The young pupil Is now part of our Southend United Community Sports Club and is continuing to grow in confidence.
Georgia Raby from SUFC and once of Premier Sport commented “It’s amazing how many opportunities are here at Southend United Community, the funding that’s provided is excellent for pupils like ‘anonymous’ to progress the way she has” The format in which we go in and set the ground running in 6 week blocks give us enough time to have a positive impact and hopefully the School recognise this and extend our stay!”
Parents of the Anonymous also agreed with the statements above saying “Anonymous has really come out her shell since working with the SUFC coaches. The option to join the largest Girls team in the area was a huge opportunity and she is really enjoying her Football. Having the option to go on the pitch in front of all the fans and meet the players was fantastic”
Anonymous is now part of our Girls under 10 squad and is going on tour in the Summer to play against the likes of West Ham United.