Portlaoise AFC recently held a girls-only soccer camp for female players of all ages at the club grounds, Rossleighan Park.
The camp was organised in line with a national policy to increase the number of girls playing sports and incentivise girls to persist with sports during their teenage years.
Irish girls and women are voting with their feet and playing a sport they may have once felt uncomfortable in – and they are excelling at it.
This can be seen with the Ireland Women’s International Team qualifying for their very first World Cup; as well as the latest figures showing female players registered with the FAI is in excess of 22,000,
The camp in Rossleighan Park focussed on improving fitness levels, basic soccer skills, set pieces and match practice all wrapped up in a fun approach to sports which emphasised teamwork and encouraged leadership.
The camp comprised of a number of players from the Portlaoise U-13 girl’s team; the mixed U-10 team; academy players; and for others it was their first experience playing the beautiful game.
Coached by Portlaoise AFC stalwarts Gavin Molloy and Rachel Horan, the participating players were regularly asked for their opinions and input regarding skills they would like to develop and their favourite soccer activities.
Portlaoise AFC has a proud history of offering high-level footballing opportunities to girls in the surrounding area and it was only two years ago when a PAFC U14’s girls Team made history for the Midlands region and won the FAI Cup.
With the phrase ‘if you can’t see it you can’t be it’ firmly in mind, the Portlaoise women’s team took to the A pitch on Friday to draw the camp to a close and took part in a challenge match against the camp juniors.
It was an incredibly special moment for many of the camp participants and their onlooking parents, as it was their first ever competitive football match and memories were made that will hopefully last a lifetime.
The Portlaoise women’s team, familiar with the barriers, both visible and invisible, which exist for women participating in sport, graciously passed on the torch to the young camp participants.
Following a penalty shootout at full time the PAFC Camp ’24 team captain, Aoife Fitzpatrick, raised aloft the inaugural ‘Juniors vs Seniors’ trophy to the rapturous applause of attending parents and supporters.
All in all, it was a fun and successful girls-only camp with super coaches, enthusiastic participants and clement weather.
Each of the girls learned some new drills, perfected their skills and grew in confidence as the week wore on.
Lord Robert Baden-Powell famously advised people to ‘try and leave the world a little better than when you found it’, and coaches Gavin and Rachel have certainly accomplished that this week.
The legacy of girls football in Portlaoise AFC marches on.
