I coach a girls team but also men's teams and a community mixed /mixed ability side. I often use the same session plan for all three (with a few apprpriate tweaks - related to age and mixed ability) - also looking forward to an explanation of the thinking behind this one - don't remember this categorising happening on HIVE

This may be stemming from the wildcats programme, which tried to bring in Disney princess and pink / girl stereotypes into the football programme.  We have 450 active female players at the moment and not a single one wants to be treated differently to the boys or wants disney and princesses brought into the session. They all just want to play football and learn skills.  

Louise, thanks for your feedback and you raise a point about girls wanting to play football and develop their skills and understanding of the game. I suppose a case could be made as to how we engage girls and boys. For many boys it is the norm - we play football. For some girls it is not so clearly defined so a slightly different approach may be needed to entice girls to try football when they may not have done so. I am still trying to think this through and this is coming from someone who just sees children who want to play football. Thanks for sharing. Pete

My thoughts would be Pete that, it is more about age and interest rather than boy or girl. You can engage both younger boys and girls through themes and sometimes they are really helpful for understanding aspects of the game. For example whilst children are learning the language of football it can be explained by an image that they can relate too. So when explaining distance and body shape for marking a player this becomes 'The Silver Surfer.'

Also by using your equipment well, the children can engage with the theme and you are getting appropriate or relevant movement, repetition with the skill development you want but without over instructing. This can be done in a random or directional way.

I started two girls teams, using the wildcats approach this year and the girls are hooked. Now my sessions are based more around football the game. What 'theming' has allowed me to do is get to know the girls and share their interests. More importantly, it has allowed me to build wonderful individual relationships and a club ethos. 

Every year as a Reception teacher, during the summer term, children would come down form year 6 on 'meet the new teacher day,' as they were obviously going to a new school. Every year, those budding, moody teenagers would talk of their fondness and memories of play when they were in Reception. My point is, what do the kids want to do? I fit my coaching around their interests but they are still being equipped with the building blocks for playing the game in later years.

I hope this makes sense and I am really sorry I didn't get to meet and chat with you personally on my UEFA B futsal course this year. Hopefully I will get that opportunity in the future.

Thanks for all your hard work and support.

Steve

My thoughts would be Pete that, it is more about age and interest rather than boy or girl. You can engage both younger boys and girls through themes and sometimes they are really helpful for understanding aspects of the game. For example whilst children are learning the language of football it can be explained by an image that they can relate too. So when explaining distance and body shape for marking a player this becomes 'The Silver Surfer.'

Also by using your equipment well, the children can engage with the theme and you are getting appropriate or relevant movement, repetition with the skill development you want but without over instructing. This can be done in a random or directional way.

I started two girls teams, using the wildcats approach this year and the girls are hooked. Now my sessions are based more around football the game. What 'theming' has allowed me to do is get to know the girls and share their interests. More importantly, it has allowed me to build wonderful individual relationships and a club ethos. 

Every year as a Reception teacher, during the summer term, children would come down form year 6 on 'meet the new teacher day,' as they were obviously going to a new school. Every year, those budding, moody teenagers would talk of their fondness and memories of play when they were in Reception. My point is, what do the kids want to do? I fit my coaching around their interests but they are still being equipped with the building blocks for playing the game in later years.

I hope this makes sense and I am really sorry I didn't get to meet and chat with you personally on my UEFA B futsal course this year. Hopefully I will get that opportunity in the future.

Thanks for all your hard work and support.

Steve

Steve, thanks for the comments, they are useful and will help other coaches - perfect for this forum. For some children (boys and girls) football is not the reason they come. Being with friends, being active and having fun remains high on a list of reasons why children participate and we mustn't overlook this and take too deep a dive into football for the very young child. Cheers. Pete