Garston Ladies
locations around the Watford/Bushey
area which can lead to some of our teams
becoming quite isolated and goes against
our ‘one club’ philosophy.
A particular issue faced by most
women’s football clubs is one of player
retention, with many girls deciding to
give up the game, particularly as they
enter their teenage years. This was one of
the main reasons behind the appointment
of our Development Officers, whose
brief is to provide assistance and support
both to players and coaches.
Although we have been successful
in securing a number of grants, we are
almost entirely dependent on our players’
monthly subs to finance the day-to-day
running of the club. We are extremely
grateful to Top Golf for their continuing
sponsorship which allows us to provide
training kit for all of our players, and
to our individual teams’ sponsors who
ensure that all of our players look their
best on match days. We don’t aim to
make a profit and any surplus that we do
make is ploughed back into the club to
provide all our teams with enough balls,
bibs and training cones.
We actively encourage parents to
get involved with the club; all of our
Club Officials are volunteers and most
of them are parents of current or former
Garston Ladies players. We are also
always looking to recruit new coaches.
As an FA Charter Standard Club
we are fully compliant with the FA’s
Safeguarding
requirements;
Child
Protection is something that we take
very seriously at Garston Ladies and we
are committed to ensuring that everyone
who works with children at the club
possesses the necessary qualifications.
We actively support the FA’s Respect
Campaign and we won’t tolerate
inappropriate behaviour from any of
our players, coaches or parents. Girls’
football has a reputation for being played
in a friendly but competitive atmosphere
and we’re proud of the part that we play
in that. And we’re determined that it will
stay that way.
As the women’s game continues to
grow in this country we don’t expect to
see any drop-off in the number of girls
wanting to join Garston Ladies. Our
challenge is to provide football for as
many girls and women as possible and
we want to see more and more girls
carrying on to play football at adult level.
We currently have two senior teams and
our aim is to expand on that over the
next five years.
But we also want to keep doing the
things that we do well. Success can be
measured in a number of ways; it’s not
all about winning trophies. A nine-year
old going home with a smile on her face
and telling her friends at school the next
day, is every bit as important to us as an
18-year old lifting the County Cup. As a
grassroots club, we can experience the
best of both worlds.
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