Sport In Profile UK Issue 18 | Page 37

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. www sportip biz 37