Portsmouth FC Women’s First team manager Jay Sadler attended Pompey in the Community’s first girls only football session of the summer holiday at Park Community school in Havant to help inspire the next generation of young female footballers.
Jay started off his visit by running a training session with different drills and activities to test the girls’ abilities, finishing off with a Q + A session to the lucky group of aspiring football players.
During the Q + A, one participant asked, ‘Do you watch lots of football in your spare time?’ to which Jay replied, ‘I go to as many games as possible: men’s, women’s, kid’s. I just enjoy watching football. It’s what I love doing’.
He then raised a question to the whole of the enthralled group, ‘Do all of you want to be footballers when you’re older?’, to which everyone replied with a chorus of ‘Yeah!’. Jay responded with an inspirational, ‘Good! Dream big. You can.’
In June, Portsmouth FC Women announced that Jay Sadler had become the club’s first full-time member of staff. He took on several new responsibilities, including engaging with the local community to increase participation, as well as exploring sponsorship opportunities.
Jay frequently visits schools in Portsmouth and surrounding areas, with the aim of growing the younger Pompey Women fan-base ahead of the move to the John Jenkins Stadium.
After personally signing autographs to every player at the session, Jay spoke about the visit, ‘I’ve really enjoyed coming down. I think it’s the age where you’re trying to still inspire them. Off the back of the Euros, it’s creating a legacy where speaking to them all today I think the most powerful message is that they all want to be professional football players… and they can be! Which is massive. The way the game is growing is fantastic to see and it’s amazing to see so many girls playing football’.
Girls aged 7-13 can still book onto various girls only sessions over August at Park Community. Visit www.pompeyitc.co.uk or call 023 9272 8899 for more information on how to book.
