BARCLAYS GAME CHANGERS – RICHMOND SCHOOL STUDENTS BECOME AMBASSADORS FOR GIRLS’ FOOTBALL

Four Richmond School students have recently become Barclays Game Changers, role models and champions of girls’ football with the aim of inspiring, engaging and empowering more girls at the school to take up the game.

Becoming a Game Changer is not easy and there are limited numbers in the country – last year there were only 300 country wide. Emmy Raggett, Lily-Mae McCafferty, Isla Bastow and Lily-Ann Thwaite, all Year 10 students, have had to show their commitment to sport and girls’ football over a significant period of time before being nominated for the role by Mrs. Carruthers, PE teacher and Sports Games Organiser. The four girls recently found out that their nominations had been successful. Now the hard work begins!

In the previous few days, the four students requested a meeting with Mrs. Potter, headteacher at Richmond School and Sixth Form College, to discuss their plans in their new roles as Game Changers. This meeting took place after the girls had already talked their plans through with Mrs. Carruthers, Mrs. Southgate, joint Lead Teacher of PE and Miss Atkinson, Girls Football Development Coordinator. They had also taken part in an online meeting with other Gamer Changers from around the country, hosted by representatives from Barclays responsible for the Game Changer initiative.

During the meeting with Mrs. Potter all four students spoke eloquently and passionately about their aim of raising the profile of girls’ football at school, increasing the number of girls participating and making the game more attractive to girls no matter what their ability, experience or background. It was clear that the Game Changers initiative doesn’t just target potentially talented players but is much more inclusive, aiming to increase participation across the board.

The students proposed that the Game Changers could meet their objectives by doing a number of different things in addition to the work they are already doing to spread the word about girls’ football. These included working in Year 7 and 8 PE lessons to deliver football themed activities, encouraging girls to be positive about the game and attend Thursday after school girls’ football club. They proposed working with local primary schools to increase girls’ enthusiasm and participation in the game so students are already keen to get involved when they join Richmond School in Year 7, as well as organising a Fun Day girls’ football tournament in the second half of the Summer term.

After the meeting, Mrs. Potter said: “I was highly impressed with the four girls’ ideas and actions to date. It’s fantastic to see our students gain these Game Changer roles and take the initiative with girls’ football. I’m absolutely sure they will work with the PE department and have a real impact on increasing participation, enthusiasm and inclusion in the girls’ game.”

Congratulations to Emmy, Lily-Mae, Lily-Ann and Isla, and thanks to everyone who is and has been involved in the Barclays Game Changer process. We look forward to hearing from our Game Changers later on this year and finding out about the impact they will surely have on girls’ football at Richmond School.