On Friday 1^st November, Derby County Community Trust hosted a Girls Football Festival at Derby Racecourse Hub. The day welcomed over 200 girls from their Female Talent Pathway (FTP) squads and Emerging Talent Centres (ETC). This ranged all the way from the Under-9’s age group up to Under-16’s.   

The event, hosted in collaboration with the FA and the Premier League was focused around providing opportunities for girls to play football in new formats. Attendees played on 3x3 pitches, which aim to increase touches on the ball and develop spatial awareness on the pitch. As part of the day, attendees were also given the opportunity to have their photo taken with the Premier League and Women’s EURO’s trophies.

“It was a really nice opportunity to mix our Female Talent Pathway and our Emerging Talent Centre players together, to play some football. It was a great day and it was amazing to see so much talent on show”-  Mike Noon, Education Manager and Female Academy Manager, Derby County Community Trust.

The FTP at Derby County Community Trust aims to develop local talent from U9 to U16 level, with the ultimate aim of providing players for the Derby County Women's First Team. Currently, the FTP has 160 players training and competing weekly representing Derby County.

Derby County players were also joined by FA Discover My Talent referrals from up and down the country, providing another opportunity for those girls to get involved with high level football and also showcase their talents.

We had different aims of creating opportunities; the girls to experience different formats and for the talent team to see different referrals who will now be signposted to next steps into Derby ETC if they’re not in an ETC or into the Premier League Kicks programmes or wherever they sit best. It was a great showcase of the connectivity between different teams and departments in the FA; the Premier League and Derby Community Trust. It was a great showcase of what can be achieved when we all come together with similar goals and aims. Ultimately great to see so many girls coming together and having a great time on the day.”- Katie Grainger, Lead Regional Talent ID Coach, The FA.

Emerging Talent Centres operate across England provide greater accessibility to the player pathway and more inclusivity for female players to enhance player development. At Derby County Community Trust the ETC is delivered in 15-week blocks with trials taking place every 15 weeks for new players to join. The sessions are delivered across two venues, one in the city and one in the county.

Later on in the day, the girls were joined on the pitch by Derby County Women players Charlotte Steggles, Kira Rai, Hannah Ward and Lucy Jones.

Midfielder, Hannah Ward said “I think it’s amazing. The fact that they don’t have their training over half term, this is a great opportunity for them to still carry on playing. Something that I wish that I had when I was younger, we didn’t really have just girls teams”

MP for Derby North, Katherine Atkinson was also present on the day and joined discussions on the importance of grassroots football on building confidence and lifelong habits and how great it is to see girls participation in football growing.