Creating a Positive Environment in Girls’ Football

We are heavily invested in helping girls in football to adopt a mindset that is encouraged through positive surroundings; at Alliance Football Club, Dubai, this means providing a space for girls to thrive in sports, and in their own personal growth. 

By: Shauna Duffy | Head of Girls Football

For any young footballer, taking their first steps into a football practice can be a daunting experience. A number of thoughts can cast a shadow on their first time on the pitch; there are more experienced players, there are players who have more confidence, and there are players who already have many friends in their group. 

The anxieties that come with doing things for the first time, are certainly more prominent in girls’ football, than boys. Girls are already challenging the stigma that football is just for boys. So, Alliance Football Club knows that if girls take their first steps into football where there is a welcoming, fun, challenging (to suit their needs), and open-to-mistake and development, atmosphere – then there is no excuse for why their first experience won’t be a positive one. 

At Alliance Football Club, we embed simple values and beliefs that lay the foundations to create a positive environment for all players, but especially for our Girls Football Club. Once the foundations are set, it allows for all players, parents and coaches to have a guideline to work with. These guidelines lay down a basis for how to be an Alliance football player, parent or coach. We feel that this adds value to the child’s experience, due to the consistent messages they will receive during their time at football sessions, and at home. Everyone at Alliance Football Club believes in the values we create and share, and this allows for a collective approach to creating a positive environment for our female footballers to learn, grow and develop. 

• Humility; No matter how talented you are, are you humble enough to work towards success with an unpretentious manner?

• Hard Work; You have the talent, but are you willing to give it all you’ve got and more to invest and nurture that talent?

• There is no “I” in team; can you put the interests and needs of your team above your own?

At Alliance we believe a positive environment is a ‘safe place’ for all of our players to experience individual success and team success, along with individual and team failings and challenges. Without showing both sides to football, there wouldn’t be a true representation of the game, leaving young players unsure of how to deal with the hard times if all they experience are good times. Therefore, we reinforce the positive actions our players take, and use them to encourage others to mirror their positive choices. 

Everyone that steps foot onto our Alliance Football Club pitch will see these values being practiced, and taught. There will be many moments where these values will be delivered unconsciously, however there will also be times where our girls will get challenged and tested to encourage positive responses from certain situations. In doing so, your child will be constantly learning about their team mates, but also about themselves and how they can deal with difficult situations. Without exposing young girls to challenging scenarios, they will struggle to deal with hardship and conflict later on in life. Therefore, giving them exposure to difficulties, and supporting and educating them on how to never give up, to not let their gender get in the way, and how to use their support network to develop and grow, embeds a positive approach to difficulties they may face at any point. 

We also encourage players to be intrinsically motivated, which takes away the desire for external objects to prove success. An example being, players being motivated by their own small developments, rather than only seeing success as winning trophies. In finding intrinsic motivation, this allows players to also develop their self-awareness, as they are continuously working on their own development, and have the understanding and vision of what success looks like to them. 

This is where our values come into action, and show what our players are truly capable of. Are they able to continuously work hard and invest even more time than they already do on themselves and their team mates? Are they able to present their successes in a humble way? And are they able to share their success with others, and encourage their team mate’s success too? 

Without listing these values and expectations to our players, they wouldn’t have anything to work towards and focus on, therefore at Alliance Football Club, we believe in the importance of providing expectations for our players, and using our methods on the pitch and off the pitch. More importantly, we do this with the support of parents too, to guide the way for our players to learn, grow and develop as the future decision-makers and leaders in society.

Fear of Failure in Girls Football

There are many reasons why Alliance FC continues to grow its Girls Football Club; equality in sports, nurturing young talent, and helping young girls to build their confidence are just a few of those reasons. In the diverse community of Dubai, a Girls’ Football Club represents strength, progression, and a brighter future. However, these accomplishments do not come without their share of challenges, and for many young girls that take part in football worldwide, many will experience a sense of fear towards failure at some point in their footballing journey. 

Failure can be described in many ways, but also be perceived differently to each individual. What may be a minor failing to one person, could be a lot more significant to someone else. Therefore, it is important to understand and recognise the different emotions and reactions associated with failing; the before, the during and the after of every situation should be acknowledged in order to offer guidance and support to each individual, in a way that is specifically tailored to them. 

Having a fear of failure, negatively influences the ability of the athlete to focus, to work to their optimum, and to, sometimes, see positivity along the way. For example, a young girl playing competitive football in Dubai for the first time, may have some anxiety towards their own performance and failing in the game. The most important steps to help this young girl, is to firstly identify what the fear is, and why these feelings are arising. Once you know this, you can encourage her to have more open discussions at home, and at her club with coaches and peers, about these feelings and how we can try to eliminate them.

Once an athlete knows what they are fearful of, the process afterwards can be made a lot easier as they have now identified the root cause and can start to work towards feeling more positive, acknowledging their own development, and hopefully achieving success on their own terms, at the end. Visualisation and Self-Talk are important skills to combatting fear of failure, and they are techniques that are used by even the most prolific, professional athletes. Visualisation is when someone creates a clear image, or series of images in relation to themselves achieving success. For example, the young girl is fearful of playing in her first competitive match, however if she can visualise herself on the pitch scoring a goal, or winning the match with her friends, her mindset and thought process is more positive than its original state. Therefore, helping young players to see a positive outcome from their original fear, helps to shift from negativity to positivity and makes the process a lot more relaxed, as opposed to anxious and stressed.

Self-Talk is a tool used to encourage athletes to talk through their feelings and thoughts around a certain topic. For the young girl who is worried about her first competitive match, she is experiencing heightened emotions as it is the first time she has taken part in a match. Therefore, helping her to talk through the process she took to prepare for the match, and how hard she has worked to get to this moment, offers positivity around the situation, rather than worry and stress. Once she can see and believe how hard she has worked to get to this point, and how deserving she is to take part in the match, she is more likely to have a sense of pride and passion towards the match rather than negative apprehensive feelings.

With young girls having to compete every day in a male dominated sport, they are already entering the footballing world with more anxieties and stresses than their male counterparts. Due to this fact, it is important to positively influence young girls as early as possible, to educate, support and promote their worth in the game. If girls can see that football is just as important for girls as it is for boys, less girls will enter the game with a pre-determined negativity towards the sport, towards themselves, and towards their future. 

It is for this very reason that Alliance FC emphasises on sports equality and continues to support equal access to football for girls in Dubai. Supporting young girls on the pitch, AND away from the pitch, discussing what fears they have, and then using visualisation and self-talk to combat fear of failure in football, will only enhance the journey they take. Girls’ Football Club, Dubai is proud to provide female athletes with the best platform to succeed in the sport they love! 

FIVE IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WOMEN’S FOOTBALL (THAT PROVE THE SPORT IS FOR EVERYONE!)

1. Nowadays, there is a successful Women’s Football Association (WFA) and even a winter English Women's Super League in the UK and Europe. Why is this important? It shows a positive movement for females in football; this means that girls now have the chance of success at major tournaments, it is their opportunity to reach the top tier of professional teams and seek out a career in football, if they so wish.

2. Sam Kerr is the 27-year-old captain of the Australian women's national football team and plays professionally for Chelsea in the English FA Women's Super League. She is the all-time goal scorer in the American NSWL and Australia’s Women’s League. Kerr has earned her fair share of honours including a nomination for the FIFA best player award. She is a prolific goal scorer and the highest-rated female player in FIFA 19 (her rating is higher than that of Mohamed Salah!). Well-known for her goal celebration backflips, Kerr is doing pretty spectacular things to pave the way for females in football.

3. Brazil’s Marta Vieira da Silva was given the nickname “Pelé in skirts” by Pelé himself. Marta is often regarded as the greatest female player of all time and has been named FIFA World Player of the Year six times. This is not only a record for female players but for men too. Marta is an inspiration in women’s football, you only need to check out her fantastic goals and football capabilities to see how much she has contributed to women’s football.

4. Back in 2012, The Reggae Girlz, Jamaica’s national women’s team had their funding cut in favour of the men’s team. Cedella Marley, the eldest daughter of reggae legend Bob Marley, helped revive the team who went on to become the first Caribbean squad to ever compete at the World Cup. Cedella donated money as well as organising a campaign to raise funds for the team through her music and the single release “Strike Hard”, in honour of the campaign.

5. On 5th December 1921, the Football Association banned women from playing the sport on FA-associated pitches. This meant that women could no longer play at real grounds with spectators or a referee. The FA branded the game as being, "quite unsuitable for females" and something that "ought not to be encouraged". The ban was finally lifted in 1971, and keen female players were suddenly able to go out and play the game they so loved, once again. A few years later the formation of the Women's Football Association (WFA) cemented the right for girls and women to play football, professionally.