Following a consultation with local groups, football sessions were formed which have evolved into Frickley Ath FC Team which has seen great success.
The challenge
To increase an understanding of opportunities and barriers for the target audience to play football, through community engagement. They were also aiming to:
- increase activity levels in women aged 16+ from target audience through football or other activities
- improve physical and mental wellbeing.
The solution
Started two new parent and toddler sessions to enable the project to start conversations with parents to find out what activities they would be interested in and the challenges and barriers they face.
Those initial conversations and the interest in football led to a meeting to discuss local interest, what the sessions would look like, when, where and any challenges those participants would face. From this meeting they created a weekly football session designed and tailored to meet the needs of the parents that attended.
The impact
Nicola, who started as an attendee, is now running the weekly women’s football session and has now formed Frickley Athletic FC Women’s team. The team progressed from the County FA five-a-side league to seven then nine-a-side, and is now joining an 11-a-side league next season.
Most weeks there are now over 20 women attending the session and in May 2024 they started another session alongside the current one, to support new participants into the game and continue the recreation offer for anyone who doesn’t want to join the team or play weekly fixtures.
Other impacts:
- Sue had no friends and lacked confidence. She has now lost two stone, her social life is much better, and she more confident, completing her coaching badges and looking to volunteer with future soccer stars with girls aged 3-6, and 7-11. Away from football, she is now doing a Step-Up course.
- Alison has gone from Active Through Football (ATF) sessions to a volunteer at Frickley Athletic games and the club shop.
- An attendee whose daughter who was bullied and left football, is now playing under 10s at a local club. By giving her mum the opportunity to talk about past problems and fears, this allowed them to arrange for her to go to training sessions.
- A volunteer at parent and toddler, Lyndsey, didn’t like football but now assists her husband with a local side he has started to manage.
- Successful referrals in and out of sessions into local services like turning point and Live Well Wakefield.
- A paid local workforce now is leading the parent and toddler sessions, Back 2 Netball and women’s football.
How will this be sustained?
Participants are now paying a weekly subscription to take part and the ATF project, They are offering support and guidance to Frickley Athletic to ensure they have a sound club structure to enable them to apply for different pots of funding. ATF is also offering support to anyone who is interested in completing their coaching qualification to enable them to lead on the sessions going forward.
Lessons learnt
Find different opportunities to engage with the local community that might be away from more traditional methods, parent and toddler or entry level sessions for children where you can speak to parents on the sidelines.
Where possible let the community lead or shape the session, to ensure that they feel like it’s their session. Having that first initial meeting to discuss about what the session would look like, when, where and any challenges those participants would face, really helps drive the session forward and starts in a great place.