Football South Coast have launched their latest pathway initiative to help cultivate the growing number of young girls playing football in the area.

The region’s first Girls Football Academy will offer young footballers the opportunity to further their understanding of the game and expose them to the national curriculum in a similar fashion to the other academies run by FSC.

“We’ve had this concept in our mind for quite a while,” said Technical Director Glenn Fontana.

“Girls football is a bit of phenomena at the moment, it’s growing very quickly so we at FSC recognised that and have created this girls only academy.

“It’s a pathway development. We believe there will be girls uncovered in this program that will have the ability to go on and play at a higher level.”

The program already has nearly 60 registered participants ranging from ages 9 to 15 and the Association expects that number will increase in the future.

The academy will be run by Fontana and several other qualified coaches that will introduce young girls to the skill acquisition concepts in line with the national curriculum.

“Currently we have four groups of 14 players and our numbers are increasing by the day,” said Fontana.

“We’re very excited to have this many girls involved and we can only see it growing exponentially in the future.

“We see this becoming an excellent academy and pathway, and we hope it sets a benchmark for the rest of the country.”

The early success of the new initiative has come as no surprise to those involved with the boy’s academies already in place which have been steadily growing since their inception.

Previously, talented girls would be assimilated into the boy’s program but with the introduction of the new academy means FSC can offer training to a larger quantity of female players.

Shellharbour native and current Matildas representative, Caitlin Foord, is the ambassador and inspiration behind the academy.

“Caitlin was one of the rising stars that came up through the boy’s academy and we’re hoping she can be the high standard our new recruits look to,” said Fontana.

“Much the same as the South Coast Wolves are invested in the boy’s academies, we’re happy for the Illawarra Stingrays to have any involvement they want with the girl’s.

“The idea is to create a pathway to the Stingrays and ultimately the Matildas in an attempt to grow the women’s game even further.

“Of course the program isn’t just to unearth future stars, it’s also a great opportunity for any girl to further their understanding of the game and have a lot of fun in the process.”

Expressions of interest in the academy should be made to Football South Coast at admin@footballsouthcoast.com

Story by Julian Keith