Hope Powell leads coaching session

Hope Powell, the England Women’s Head Coach, received a warm welcome at the West Riding FA when she gave a mentoring session for aspiring young coaches in the women’s game.

The event proved a great success with 80 coaches attending, each one eager to take in words of wisdom from the winner of 66 England caps.

Sue Fisher who, along with her daughter Libby, coaches North Ferriby United in Hull, said: "We gained a lot from the demo and my daughter got some great ideas for working with the children at our club."

Hope emphasised the importance of making the most of time spent with players, especially as this can be as little as one hour a week for some coaches. The training session focused on passing, pressure, possession, shooting and goalkeeping.

Under 16s players from Leeds United Girls’ Centre of Excellence and West Riding Girls’ Centre of Excellence were the willing subjects of the training session part of a Regional Mentoring Scheme funded by Tesco and the National Sports Foundation.

Also present was Rachel Pavlou, The FA’s Women’s Football Development Manager, who spoke positively about the progression of women’s football, from the grassroots game right through to the national team. Among other goals, Rachel said she wished to continue the rise in participation from both women and girls – currently at a 17 per cent increase over the last three years. This aim will be helped by Tesco offering a girls’ football week between 22 June and 28 June 2009.

Later in the evening, both Hope and Rachel were happy to answer questions from all who attended. They concluded by urging clubs, schools, centres of excellence and County FAs to work together to push the women’s game forward and thanked the team at West Riding County FA for their hard work in organising the evening.

Polly Fildes, Women and Girls’ Football Development Officer at West Riding FA said: "It was really nice for Hope to come to Yorkshire and meet club and Centre of Excellence coaches."