Women wanting to play soccer but who don’t have the time and commitment to do a full season will soon have an alternative option.
In December, Marrickville Football Club (MFC) received a two-year grant for $8,200 from the Inner West Council to run the Kick-on for Women program.
Kick-on for Women is an introductory program for women who have never played soccer before but want to stay active and play with friends.
Managing Director of MFC Georgie Kokokiris said the club had been looking at ways to increase female participation in soccer.
“Speaking to some of the mums and sisters and females in the club, and even myself, there was this issue of we’d love to play,” she said.
“We’d love to do something active but we just don’t have the time and commitment to do something in a full season and compete in a team,” she said.
The program runs for eight weeks, with each session lasting 45 minutes. It comprises a 25-minute skill session, where women will learn basic football skills, and a short 20-minute game with teams of five or seven competing against each other.
MFC will run the program every Thursday night, beginning in April, throughout the second and third terms of the school year.
The grant money will be used to train up female coaches; for equipment, such as balls, cones and bibs; and to provide female-cut training kits for players to wear, so they feel like they’re part of a team.
The female coaches are all part of the club – and coaching and running this program will take their football to another level.
For women in the community hesitant to take part, Ms Kokokiris said there is nothing to worry about.
“There will be no divisions, there is no grading, it doesn’t matter if you can kick a ball or not.”
Initially, the club would like to see 20 to 30 women join up and then increase numbers to run the program all year round.
“It’s definitely something that we want to continue; increase the female numbers and see what else our female members want,” Ms Kokokiris said.
