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Girls Central Venue Fixture Day
Bideford – 10th November 07
Saturday the 10th of November 2007 saw the third North Devon Girls Central Venue Fixture Day, which took place at the Sandymere Sports Complex at Bideford. Thanks go to the Bideford Blues for their help with the venue and also to the volunteers from Bideford Blues and Braunton for helping on the day.
The event took place on the half size ATP with all participants receiving coaching, the chance to play matches and also getting the chance to have a go at the Tesco sponsored FA Skills Challenges that the FA are promoting - Please go to www.thefa.com/skills/ for more information.
The Fixture Day invited girls from Under 10 to Under 16 in the North Devon area to come along and experience football and if interested signposted to a club offering girls football. On the day we saw over 50 girls participate over the five hours of playing time. The day followed the same format of the previous two being split into 2 sections with 21 Under 10 and U12 players attending for two and a half hours in the morning and 31 Under 14 and U16 players attending in the afternoon.
Every player enjoyed the format of having the coaching, testing their skills on the Tesco FA Skills Challenges and playing friendly matches.
For the U14 and U16 players, where possible, they played the matches as ‘club teams’, trying to make the transition from ‘turn up and play’ sessions to more structured club fixture days. This format is also planned for the younger age groups but is dependent on the number of players attending.
The next Central Venue Fixture Day is scheduled for Saturday 2nd February. The venue will be Braunton and further details will be circulated nearer the time.
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Saturday the 22nd of September saw South Molton FC in Partnership with South Molton Community College host the second North Devon Girls Central Venue Fixture Day.
The day took place on the brand new Third Generation Astro Turf Facility at the College. Everyone in attendance agreed that the facility is a fantastic addition and will be a real asset to the College and local community.
The Fixture Day invited girls from Under 10 to Under 16 in the North Devon area to come along and experience some coaching and friendly fixture matches. This followed the first Fixture Day held at Great Torrington Community College in May where 38 girls attended.
The event at South Molton was an overwhelming success with 55 girls across the 4 age groups attending showing that the interest levels are rising. Lee Rider from the Devon FA stated “It is great to see the interest levels rising in the North Devon area, this is through promoting the fixture days through the School Sports Partnership network, local media and of course the local football providers. The long term aim in North Devon is to raise enough interest for clubs to be able to run teams and eventually have a league competition running alongside the boys.”
The day was split into two sections with 36 Under 10 and U12 players attending for two and a half hours in the morning and 19 Under 14 and U16 players attending in the afternoon. Every player enjoyed the format of having coaching games, a World Cup Penalty Shootout, as we are in the middle of the 2007 Women’s World Cup, and some friendly fixtures. All players were extremely positive and keen to take part in some more girls only football.
Lizzy Baker, the School Sports Coordinator for South Molton stated “The girls have come into school saying they had a fabulous time. I had 30 year 8's out for practice yesterday - they are certainly keen!”
Pictures from the day can be downloaded from 'Related Documents'.