Inspired by their idols - role models in the female game

The importance of role models in women’s soccer can’t be underestimated - especially in the modern era, when it is being watched by more people both in stadia and on TV.

And with both the Uefa Women’s Euros and the Concacaf W Championship on this month, there are plenty of opportunities for young girls to see some of the game’s top names.

The greater media coverage has made many of these players household names, providing youngsters with role models to aspire to.

"If you can see it, you can be it", the saying goes - and coaches can utilise this in their training sessions, too.

I have been a football fan all my life. I played at school, usually with the boys, and was deemed to be a “tomboy”. At that time, it wasn’t seen as the norm for girls to want to play football. 

At one stage, the school had a visit from some representatives from the Scottish FA, who were looking to run trials for new teams, which on reflection was a positive step in women’s and girls’ football.

However, if you were good enough, you would more than likely be playing in a boys’ team, as they were more established. There simply were not enough girls in my local area with an interest to form girls’ specific teams for each age group, as many clubs have now.

When I was growing up, I didn’t have any female footballer role models to look up to, as there was very little exposure of them in the media.

Therefore, on the back of my replica shirts, it would either be my own name or a favourite male player.

Fast forward to 2022 and you have [Jane] Ross, [Nicola] Docherty and [Erin] Cuthbert on the back of shirts in Scotland, which is fantastic to see. It shows the women’s game is moving in the right direction.

This is aided by increased exposure from clubs, players’ own social media accounts and increasing attendances at games, where many of the players are more than happy to sign autographs and be in selfies.

It is so important to get young girls seeing what they can aspire to be, now they can see their female role models regularly, not just male players.

Just recently, one of my U10s girls stated that she “wanted to the next Erin Cuthbert”. We went on discuss what she thinks Erin does well and what she would need to do to get to that level.

“Hard work, score goals and play a lot,” she said. 

 

"One of my U10s girls stated that she ’wanted to be the next Erin Cuthbert’..."

This then prompted a wider discussion with the rest of the group about female players - and compared to when I was younger, the list was a long one!

We then used this in some training sessions, getting the girls to ‘play like their idols’ by picking a skill or something they had noticed their player doing and bringing that to the training session.

Trying to play as Sam Kerr, Alex Morgan, Vivianne Miedema seemed to bring out a new-found confidence in the girls, as they attempted skills and moves they would not usually try. It was fascinating to see. 

Of course, these young players still have a way to go before emulating their heroes, and it is not something to use all the time. 

But by trying this occasionally, it brings a fun alternative to training and gets a healthy discussion going with the girls, encouraging them to watch professional matches and seeing who they can aspire to be in the future.

As they grow alongside an ever-changing landscape in the world of women’s soccer, there’s no doubt that female role models who are now so visible and accessible can inspire the next generation to achieve more.