Teenage goal ace aiming to get more girls playing game
A PONTYPRIDD 15-yearold who has scored more than 400 goals for her local club is urging more girls to come forward and play football.
Jasmine Simpson, 15, of Rhydyfelin LFC, has scored in excess of 440 goals for her club in league matches over the last four years.
She explained: “I was really shy. I didn’t like answering questions at school but now I contribute so much more. Even the teachers have noticed the difference.”
It comes after earlier this year, Wales’ under-15 girls stormed to a historic victory in the Bob Docherty Cup in Dublin, making history – Wales has never before been triumphant in the tournament which pits the home nations against other.
Jasmine and others’ claims of improved selfconfidence proved a UEFA study released last week highlighting the positive impact of football on the self-confidence of teenage girls.
The research investigated the impact that football has on self-confidence, self-esteem, wellbeing, feelings of togetherness, motivation and life skills and compared those to other popular sports.
The numbers of girls in Wales pulling on their football boots are increasing with the numbers of clubs across the nation on the rise.
The South Wales Women’s and Girls’ League has grown in numbers by 57% in just the last 12 months.
And Jasmine and other girls from across the UK are hoping hosting top class women’s football in Cardiff in the form of last week’s Champions League final between Lyon and Paris St Germain, will inspire even more girls to get involved.
Neil Ward, CEO of the FAW Trust – the FAW’s charitable arm that’s responsible for the development of the game in Wales, said: “It’s fantastic to see our promising players encouraging younger girls onto the pitch.
“While we are very proud of the work we are doing to increase the number of women and girls playing, we always want to try new approaches.
“For example, we’ve created Beatball which puts football to music. We’ve got to try new things if we want to see a significant improvement in our participation numbers.
“That’s something Sport Wales have been very supportive of,” added Neil.