Whether you are a club that is starting to deliver female football, looking to add a new age group team, or just looking to recruit a few more girls into your offer, it makes absolute sense to look to your nearest schools to help you on this quest. After all, that’s where you will find young people, your target audience, all in the same place at the same time. But beyond just recruiting new players, the benefits that linking with your local school could bring are endless. From accessing facilities, to recruiting new volunteers, to generating income, clubs with strong and sustainable school partnerships continue to develop and thrive, truly providing that hub at the heart of their local community.
Using your existing players, and their parents, to help your forge relationships with their school leaders, teachers and PE and sport staff is an obvious first port of call. But with such limited time on your hands, and perhaps not knowing exactly what to say to ‘sell’ your club to those in the education world and not our grassroots football world, there are a suite of handy, free to use resources, that can do just that for you. Here on the Club House you will find editable letters, posters, and social media posts, along side case study videos of clubs that benefited from developing and maintaining school club links to drive their female football provision and wider club offer. You can also find all of these resources here: https://www.englandfootball.com/participate/leagues-and-clubs/Female-Football-at-Your-Club?tab=RECRUITINGGIRLS
In addition, schools can also now benefit from Football Foundation Grass Pitch Maintenance funding, if they provide community access to their facility midweek or on a weekend. This could be a gamechanger for both the school and you as a club if the quality of the pitch can be improved and it increases frequency of usage. You can find more information on this here: https://footballfoundation.org.uk/grant/grass-pitch-maintenance-fund
Tell us about your school links and what benefit they bring to you and your club! Or what further help you need on your quest to develop your club’s girls football offer.
If you want more help and advice in your local area, then get in touch with your County FA. Find out who, here:
https://www.englandfootball.com/participate/leagues-and-clubs/county-football-associations