The Juniors Page

Having had a ladies team under the name of Sawbridgeworth Town Women's FC here since the start of the 2002 season the club as a whole were warming to the fact that girls / ladies had a place within the club structure.

Around the Christmas time of 2002 Dianne Le Count put a suggestion forward that many girls from local junior schools had expressed the wish to play football. The manager of the ladies team was then approached to see if it would be possible to set up training for the girls. A set of taster training sessions were organised to see what the interest was and to see if the girls would ‘stay the distance’.

Initially there were 20 girls who started the first taster training session and for the 3 weeks the numbers stayed the same. There was then a decision made to start the sessions on a more disciplined status and we saw a drop in numbers to around 12. Since then after some early holidays the numbers are up around the 14/15 numbers with more girls approaching the group with a view to train. Obviously the more girls that train the better the club will become, The step would be to look for different age groups as at present we are looking at under 12’s. Other girls younger and older are with the group but at this time there is nowhere we can play them because of the age stipulations.

There is also the need / requirement for a team manager and if there are to be other teams at different age groups then other managers as well. Commitment to the fact that there is a need for girls football will we hope gain momentum so that the need to ask for a manager is pre-empted by someone who offers their services.

The whole idea to forming a junior girls section was to start a group of girls that would progress through the various girl’s leagues so at to eventually become available to the ladies team. It will take about 5 / 6 years before the girls will be able to progress to the ladies team but it is hoped that by that time the girls will have been coached to a high level and have the understanding and confidence to be able to do so.