Girls' football project run by Rachel Yankee awarded £2,000 (From Harrow Times)

Girls' football project run by Rachel Yankee awarded £2,000

4:30pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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A FOOTBALL academy has been awarded £2,000 to set up a summer project to provide coaching sessions for ethnic minority girls in north-west London.

The Rachel Yankey Football Academy has received the money from Kick It Out, which is a campaign supported by the Football Foundation to promote equality in the game.

The academy was awarded the money to work with more than 80 young ethnic minority girls, particularly of Somali descent but also Eastern European and traveller girls in north-west London.

The project will begin with taster sessions and school assembly talks and will lead onto coaching sessions.

Rachel Yankey MBE is of Ghanaian descent and plays for Arsenal and England football teams.

She said: “Getting the grant has enabled us to offer these free sessions to children in the local area and hopefully means we’ll be able to make real progress and further their football future.

“We’re also looking to make a brand new girls team and without this funding that would not have been possible.”

Nearly 200 applications were received for the grants with the judging panel acknowledging the high standard of all of the projects.

Piara Powar, director of Kick It Out, said: “The Rachel Yankey Football Academy is a deserved recipient of the cash. The aim of the grants is to give under-represented communities the opportunity to get involved in the game.

"Whether that’s playing, coaching or refereeing, the programme exists to increase participation from these groups in towns and cities across the country.”

Miss Yankey's football academy has been running for three years across schools in north London providing curriculum training, after-school clubs and Saturday morning sessions.

Sessions for the programme run on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Gibbons Recreational Ground, in Neasden.

For more details contact 07504 576435.

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