Britain's Got Talent sensation Faryl Smith has lent her support to Girls Football Week.
The 13-year-old singer, who performed the national anthem at this season's FA Cup Final, is a keen footballer and says that every girl should have the opportunity to play the game.
Attending just one of the many events this week at Loughton Academy in Essex, along with England and Chelsea defender Casey Stoney, Smith was keen to encourage every girl to play football.
"There needs to be more of this kind of encouragement for girls to play football," Smith told TheFA.com. "It's great that there is a whole week devoted to girls football.
"There are girls here from the age of five right up to 16, and I'm hoping they are all going to be inspired to get involved."
While singing will always be the main passion for Smith, she admits that playing football can be more of a social experience when you are growing up.
"I'm a solo singer, so you can be quite isolated, but playing in a team is a great way to make friends and you feel like everything you accomplish, you do it together.
"When I was younger I always used to go to watch my brother play football, every game he played.
"I guess I was about seven when I started to play football all the time, at first I was playing with boys at my school and they used to tease me and say girls can't play football.
"That's something you have to overcome and I got together with a friend and pushed to have a girls team to play for. If it wasn't for my dad and my friend's dad helping, it wouldn't have happened. Luckily we got a team in Kettering together, and we got all our friends to come and join and it was so much fun."
There are currently 150,000 females playing affiliated football in England and more than double that number who want to get involved but are unsure of how to go about it. As a result, part of the week’s activities will see The FA and Tesco helping girls find their local clubs so that they can join up and continue to enjoy the game.
More details about the events that are taking place in your local area during The FA Tesco Girls’ Football Week can be found at
www.TheFA.com/girlsfootball.
