A group of eighteen girls, who attend Premier League Girls’ sessions at The Swinton High School and Salford College in Greater Manchester, took part in some skills and drills including passing and shooting, with Reds stars’ Marouane Fellaini, Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans, Ben Amos and Anderson.
The Premier League Girls programme was launched in October 2013 and is aimed at encouraging females aged 14 and over to take part in regular football activities. Sport England have invested £2.4 million into the FA for the specific development of the female game which has allowed 87 Premier League and Football League clubs to deliver the programme.
Manchester United Foundation coaches currently deliver thirteen sessions with over 180 girls getting involved at partner schools in across Greater Manchester.
17-year-old Ann-Kathrin Crocket thoroughly enjoyed the session, she said, “I’ve never done anything like this so it’s a good opportunity. The Foundation is great and the coaches have helped me quite a lot to build my confidence and to keep playing”
United defender Jonny Evans said, “The girls have done well. My sister is about the same age, I go to watch her play football and it's good to see the girls getting involved. It's always nice to support programmes like this and encourage girls to get involved in football. It's good for the community as well.”
Emma Fletcher, Girls Football Development Manager, said ““It’s been great at Old Trafford today. First of all, a fantastic opportunity for the girls from two of our projects to come down and play here, but then an extra surprise for them was having a few players come along and show them a few tricks.”
She added, ““We’re three months into this year’s sessions for the girls on the programme; we’ve already gone past our target for the year so everything we are doing now is a bonus. We’ve just got to keep the girls coming every week, which is what we are aiming for now.”