South Shields youth set-up transformed

The South Shields FC Foundation have been running activity programmes both at the club and in local schools since September, culminating in a girls-only session during the recent school holidays with the aim of establishing new teams at age groups between under-9s and under-12s.

Having been blown away by the response, those teams have now been formed along with two more at under-7s and under-14s, creating a complete pathway which ultimately leads all the way to the Mariners’ senior team, who play in the North East Regional Women’s Football League Premier Division.

“We’re really pleased with how it has gone,” said SSFC Foundation Manager Steve Camm.

“We had a great response to the open invitation to come and join teams, which are now in existence and started training together for the first time last Friday. They’ll be playing games from Easter and entering a league in September.

“We’re also establishing the coaching structure – two female coaches have put themselves forward to help run the teams – and it has transformed our infrastructure.

“It connects our younger programme for 3/4/5-year-olds with a progression route and it also joins up with our year seven programme at Mortimer School. We’re getting towards 60 girls representing the club across the age groups.”

The Mariners are one of over 30 clubs across the Pitching In Southern, Isthmian and Northern Premier Leagues to have so far benefited from Trident Community Foundation grants, which have ranged between £1,000 and £5,000.

The initiative is part of the multi-million-pound grassroots sport investment programme Pitching In, set up by Ladbrokes with the support of its owner Entain, to help non-league clubs rebuild after two seasons curtailed by the pandemic.

Shields allocated their grant to funding the coaching within their activity programmes, which have so far seen 540 girls take part – around 10 per cent of whom have special educational needs – and Camm hopes to see that number continue to rise.

“The way we initially planned to do it had to change a little due to Covid restrictions and bubbles within schools,” he said.

“But given those factors, we are delighted with how it has gone and we have been able to engage significant numbers of girls in activities – not just football, but multisport and PSHE too.

“In a Covid-free world, the sky would be the limit in terms of what we could achieve. Now it’s about converting that and we are looking forward to seeing these new teams develop.”

Ladbrokes, with the support of its owner Entain, has launched a multi-million pound investment programme, Pitching In, designed to support and promote grassroots sports. For more details see: https://entaingroup.com/sustainability/pitching-in/