Why I set up Our Goal CIC, and why it's not your average football organisation.

Last year I set up OUR GOAL CIC . A not-for-profit which exists to empower girls and women.

I love football, but not like most people do. I don't watch the premier league, I don't even watch the Women's Super League all that much, although I do try. I don't know all the players names and I don't even really follow a team, I say I'm a City fan because you have to pick a side here in Manchester, but I’m not hardcore. I've always been like this, but it gives me imposter syndrome even just writing it, because if you ask me what my passion is- it's football. I live and breathe it. Ask anyone who knows me they will either call me ‘footie gal’ or ‘hatrick hero’. Football has been the one biggest defining feature in my life so far, just not in the same way as it has for most people.

I started playing football when I was 10 when my neighbours took me down to a local training session. I’ve never been that good – in fact I’m completely average at best, although I have recently been scoring a lot of goals in 5-a-side. Maybe that’s because the nets are so wide and the pitch is so tiny.

I didn’t realise the impact football had had on me, my character, my personality and building me as a person until I started to see the impact it has on others. When I was 20 (ish) I set up some beginners sessions at University for some course mates, we were called Le Cercle Français. A group of women who had never kicked a ball before would come down every Monday to an outdoor pitch in cold, windy Sheffield to learn to play football with me. It was never about being good footballers, it was about getting fit, seeing friends, and building confidence. Football was a vehicle through which the women were strong, vocal, and physical. And all whilst being present in spaces which women have traditionally been excluded from. This was when I started to realise that this is what football has been doing for me my whole life, it’s made me a strong person. Physically and mentally.

I went on to play and coach in Elda, Bordeaux, Valencia, London, Edinburgh and Manchester and with every single one of the hundreds of girls and women I worked with, I could see that football had empowered them. Football requires commitment, drive, and passion, but it gives confidence, power, and voice. As a sport, football is special because it naturally develops these characteristics that are not encouraged in women and girls, but which are so important for our independence and success.

I talk about football because that’s my sport, but really this is about physical activity and movement. The power of being active for women and girls is transformative, because when we take part in physical activity or sport, we move the body from passive to active: from what women’s bodies have traditionally been valued for (to be looked at), to what they’re capable of (anything we choose).

As I mentioned in the title, Our Goal CIC is not your average football organisation, because:

1)    Our sessions follow a programme designed to develop life skills, confidence and self-esteem through football. We don’t follow a traditional football training model so it’s unlikely you’ll be scouted at our sessions, but you will build strength and confidence.

2)    Our community sessions are intercut with mentoring sessions for players. Once a month, we work with the girls on our Confidence and Self-esteem programme. We want them to be strong girls, not just strong players.

3)    We don’t just do football. Our Secondary School programme is a co-constructed physical activity programme designed to engage girls who are dropping out of PE. It’s about meeting them where they’re at and working on their terms to build their confidence.

This is my drive in life. The fire in my belly. To use the power of football and physical activity to empower girls and women. Which is why I had no choice but to set up Our Goal. Our Goal is my vehicle to achieve what gets me out of bed every morning.

Our vision is to be the best and safest female spaces for girls and women to be empowered through physical activity. I used to think that to work in football I needed to be a big football fan who can talk the talk, but I don’t. Because now I’ve realised that football isn’t the destination, it’s just my way of getting there.