Wildcats chance for girls

STANLEY COMMUNITY TRUST

SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football Centres from The FA will provide local girls aged 5-11 with regular opportunities to play football.

The initiative offers organised sessions in a fun and engaging environment created exclusively for girls. More than 200 clubs have been established throughout England in 2017 and a further 800 are set to launch in 2018.

SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football sessions take place on a weekly basis, either after school or at weekends, and provide a safe environment where girls can try football for the first time. SSE and The FA hope the initiative will inspire participants to engage with football, meet new friends, develop fundamental skills, learn new things and create the foundation for a lifelong love of football.

Sessions in Hyndburn and Ribble valley include:

Peel Park Primary School, Accrington

St Peter & St Pauls C of E Primary, Rishton

Pendle Primary School, Clitheroe

St Anne’s & St Joseph’s RC Primary, Accrington

St Marys RC Primary School , Oswaldtwistle

Each SSE Wildcats Girls’ Football Centre will be run in conjunction with local County FAs and utilise qualified coaches and local facilities. As well as activities for girls, there will also be family sessions, including Soccercise.

The initiative is in line with The FA’s Gameplan for Growth, with the target of doubling girls’ participation in the sport by 2020.

Elle Kayley, Stanley Trust Women and Girls Officer, explains: “I started playing football at a similar age to a lot of the girls taking part in these sessions and that’s when my love of football began. It’s so important to encourage them to enjoy the game from a young age and SSE Wildcats provide a great resource for that.”

ATHLETICS ALAN DORRINGTON

FIVE youngsters from Clayton le Moors Harriers represented Lancashire last Saturday at the Inter Counties Cross-Country Championships, held at Loughborough.

Following selection at the Lancashire