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Her Game Too is delighted to announce the campaign’s first partnership with a secondary school – Leighton Park School in Reading.
The school is dedicated to creating and developing opportunities within football for its female pupils and hopes the new partnership will help to raise awareness of Her Game Too’s ethos of football being a game for all.
Leighton Park School currently has 80 girls enrolled in after-school football sessions delivered by coaches from Chelsea Football Club, has seen 80 per cent of its Year 7 and 8 girls sign up to football to progress their skills and confidence and is enjoying an unbeaten run with a 100 per cent win rate across all years so far this term.
The school also recently launched a new girls’ football league, sponsored by health and wellbeing platform YouHQ, to engage female teams from 11 other Berkshire-based schools and promote sport in the Reading area.
Callum Beasley, Head of Football at Leighton Park School and creator of the YouHQ Girls’ Summer Football League, said: “I am extremely proud to be a part of the growth of girls’ football here in Leighton Park.
“The enthusiasm and dedication of our players are the seeds of a growing future for the sport.
“We are so thankful that this partnership with Her Game Too allows us to contribute to the shaping of equal opportunities in football within our school and the broader Reading community.
“Working with Her Game Too boosts our voice to encourage other communities to do more for equality in sport, push girls to be confident leaders and athletes, and ensure others are changing the way they think about women’s football.”
Reflecting on being an under-13s player at Leighton Park School, Year 8 pupil Lateen said: “It’s very fun and they do lots of different training activities.
“They make sure to get you playing in matches, give you lots of opportunities and make you feel good about yourself.
“I played a match before and felt I did badly, but my coach gave me so much support and told me I shouldn’t think negatively about myself.
“He made me think I should keep trying and not give up.”
The Leighton Park School community hopes becoming a Her Game Too partner will help to promote awareness of girls’ football in other schools they have fixtures against and raise the profile of the female game within the school and local area.
Emily Drakeley, Co-Founder and Director of Her Game Too, said: “I am really pleased that we have partnered with our first Senior School, Leighton Park. This partnership is really important to me as my own personal football journey began at secondary school, where I faced many barriers. It is fantastic to see Callum leading the charge to making football a game for all at Leighton Park and when he told me his plans, I was so excited. It took me back to being a teenager again!
"The pupils and staff at Leighton Park will be supported by us at Her Game Too through educational pieces, tournament support and advice and guidance when needed.
"I am really excited for this partnership and hope we can really make a difference for the students here!"