New coaches backed by seven professional clubs, including Arsenal, to deliver introductory football sessions for 1,000 girls aged seven to 11 in the city

The FA launched its women’s football Gameplan for Growth 11 months ago with three bold aims: to double participation, to double fans and to have consistent success on the world stage.

It was a launch full of positivity and enthusiasm for the potential that exists across the board in the women’s game but it is fair to say the road has been rocky. The FA has faced criticism for its handling of Eni Aluko’s complaint and Mark Sampson’s sacking and its governance of, and restructure of, the domestic leagues.

Yet while these struggles have made the headlines the plans the FA announced in March 2017 have started to reap rewards. The 200 Wildcat clubs for seven- to 11-year-olds is being expanded, high-performance centres have been set up and Grow the Game grants dished out to new teams.

Women’s football takes centre stage in museum exhibition | Anna Kessel Read more

Yet the biggest question of whether schools – crippled by underfunding and staff shortages – would bite and where coaching staff and volunteers to support these ambitious targets would come from, remained.

Last week the London FA launched the London Leopards coaching programme aimed at tackling the problem head on. Gathered in a room overlooking the Wembley pitch and opening applications for 100 sponsored Level 1 coaching places for women in the capital, the London FA chief executive, Lisa Pearce, said: “This is about growing participation by building the capacity of the future workforce.”

The role of the project could not be summed up more succinctly. These 100 coaches, created by the London FA in partnership with the Wembley National Stadium Trust, will then help deliver introduction to football sessions for 1,000 girls aged seven to 11 in the city.

Nationally only 11% of girls aged between five and nine play football compared with 52% of boys of the same age. The number of girls playing football between the ages of 10 to 11 rises to 41% but this again pales in comparison with the 88% of 10- to 11-year-old boys who play the sport.

These are the numbers the London FA wants to do something about and research suggests that girls who take up the sport hugely benefit and overwhelmingly enjoy it. Kelly Simmons, the participation and development director of the FA, revealed 99% of the feedback from the activities at Wildcat clubs has been positive and explained that, while “mixed football is really important, particularly for the most talented girls, for many it’s a big jump just to go into girls football”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest From left: the London FA chief executive, Lisa Pearce, Tottenham Ladies manager, Karen Hills, the Tottenham player Sarah Wiltshire and the Women in Sport chief, Ruth Holdaway, at the launch of the London Leopards coaching programme. Photograph: London FA

The London FA has signed up seven professional club community trusts to help deliver the coaching: AFC Wimbledon Foundation, Arsenal Women, Charlton Athletic Women’s, Chelsea Foundation, Leyton Orient Trust, Millwall Community Trust, QPR FC in the Community Trust and Tottenham Hotspur Foundation. These clubs have signed up to deliver an eight-week outside-school-hours football introduction with the new coaches while also assisting those coaches in their careers beyond London Leopards. The women coaches will start their coaching with girls as part of the programme but those speaking at the launch were keen to stress it is important to have women coaching in boys’ football too.

The Spurs manager, Karen Hills, one of the few women who manages in the top tiers, was extremely positive about the plans: “The London Leopards project will initially give these girls a great accessible platform to coach football and hopefully create a love of the game which will see them continue to participate and transition into clubs.”

Alison Speechly from Lewisham undertook her first course in 2014 and is studying for her Uefa B licence while coaching the Tottenham Hotspur Ladies Under-13 team in her spare time. She illustrated the benefits of coaching for someone who suffered from low confidence: “When you’re coaching you’re in a live scenario, out there and exposed, so there’s nowhere to hide. It forces you – in a good way – to react to different situations in the moment. It teaches you about the impact of how things come across, what you say and how you say it, and learning to adapt your style to fit the player, team or situation. These are all skills I’ve been able to transfer into my work and personal life.”

If anything, the targets are modest. With clubs looking for women to apply and the FA launching publicity to attract women more widely to sign up – including through Mumsnet – they could very easily smash through the 100 recruits mark and those coaches will undoubtedly go on to lead many more than the 1,000 set as part of the programme. Yet modest targets should not be overlooked because, if successful, the opportunities to expand the project, secure further funding and champion the model elsewhere will undoubtedly follow.

For more information about the London Leopards initiative and how to apply for the coaching courses, please visit: www.londonfa.com Applications close Monday 26 February.

Talking points

• The England and Liverpool defender Casey Stoney has ended her 23-year playing career as she joins Phil Neville’s Lionesses backroom team. The 35-year-old former England captain will play her last game for Liverpool against Sunderland on Wednesday. Stoney, who also captained Team GB at London 2012, has played at the top level since she started her senior career at Arsenal, playing for Charlton, Chelsea, Lincoln, Arsenal again and Liverpool. She said: “I am hugely excited to be starting my next chapter. I talked to Phil Neville at length before accepting the job and was hugely impressed with his vision, passion and eagerness to learn.”

• Chelsea will travel to Liverpool for their FA Cup quarter-final after they beat Doncaster Rovers Belles 6-0 at Kingsmeadow. Liverpool secured a 3-0 win away at Chichester City, with the 17-year-old goalkeeper Emily Ramsey keeping a clean sheet on her first-team debut.

Sunderland host Manchester City and Arsenal, who saw Kim Little return from the injury that ruled her out of Scotland’s Euro 2017 campaign, are at home to Charlton. Durham will play Everton. Matches to be played on 18 March.

• In Australia Melbourne City won their third consecutive W-League championship with a final win over Sydney FC. Jess Fishlock’s 30-yard strike caught the Sydney goalkeeper off her line in the first half. Then the Welsh midfielder struck a free-kick against the bar and England’s Jodie Taylor tapped in to secure the 2-0 victory.

• The newly launched Utah Royals, led by Laura Harvey, will travel to Orlando on the opening day of the NWSL season on Saturday 23 March. The champions, Portland Thorns, play away at North Carolina Courage in a replay of last season’s championship final. Full opening game details here.