I am Heavily involved in girls grassroots football and what I will say is - the girls listen way better than the lads do Last season (U10s) the best footballers (imho) I had in my squad were two lads and four girls and the girls all read the game better than one of those two lads. Three of those four have since been picked up by an RTC and just been re-signed this year. I don’t know where the drop off is (because I believe there is currently one) but it happens after U12s I reckon cause up to now the girls are every bit as good as the lads and in some cases better.
I might be wrong but I’m surprised the womens game didn’t introduce transfer caps etc to try make an even competition. When they were newly setting up the WSL would have been perfect time to implement these things to enable a fair competition. Feel like now it’s very much the clubs that are funded by the mens team at the top and then the rest. I guess issue is that players go abroad to the bigger clubs if that was the case though as unlike mens game, women seem more inclined to go play in Europe or USA
Id imagine when they start hitting puberty it is probably an area where a lot of girls drop out. When they may get teased for playing ‘a boys sports’ and the obvious things that come along with what happens when girls hit puberty etc.
I think that's why American women team do so well. Since football doesn't really have much history in the US, it's not really rooted in as a boys sport. It's something both sexes play just as frequently when young. And whereas the best male athletes all get sidetracked into sports like basketball, or wasted in sports like Gridiron or baseball where universities will pay them big money to play for them (but football won't)... A lot of the best women athletes stay playing football.
I trying not to think about that All the hormones have kicked in already - nightmare We have a woman coach who is there to deal with those kind of things We call her Mum lmao
sure i saw / read something recently that said there is a huge decrease in girls participating in all sports at around the 12/13 age .
In terms of Hockey, we see a lot of girls drop out between the ages of 14-18. Getting them playing past 18 is really hard If they make it to 18 and are still playing they usually stop when they have children and either don't play again or only start again if the child is interested in playing. Boys are slightly different 15/16 seems to be the difficult age to keep them. But if they do go past 18 most either carry on for as long as possible.
My experience has been that not a lot of girls participate in sport at any age. I think the huge coverage that women's sports get these days may be encouraging more girls to play more. Apart from tennis, gymnastics and possibly track, there are no real female sporting icons.
That won't give them too much time then. Most girls start periods between 12 and 14. I always thought the main barrier for both sexes in sport is taking more interest in sex, alcohol and partying.
Hmm harsh to say they find excuses. I’d imagine a lot of these sports thr coaches are men and it’s probably very embarrassing and awkward for girls to have to explain to a man about these kind of things, and guys will have no real experience in how to deal with it.
My daughter finds excuses then. I do think the role model thing is one aspect but the reality is they have a lot of role models already that would prefer not to move at all but be air brushed and wear shag all
The Wolfenden gap highlights the drop for varying reasons around the age of 16 but I think it happens a bit earlier than that I had a 10 year old start her periods last season and it has not effected their football , 3 this season and they are still well into their chosen sport. As I say I cannot highlight what it is yet but I am really interested to see. I have four teams two mixed and two girls so I should get a comparison
I think I said it in jest before. All kids have this one day where they don't play anymore. Whether that's running about in the street or toys or whatever and they sit on a wall swinging their legs watching the world through a phone lens now. Everyone is different and different self consciousness or distractions or whatever. I can only say my daughter would rather prance about upstairs with headphones on to music and play dress up than be anywhere near a park or whatever. She used to climb trees all summer. Some parents ram 400 activities at kids etc It's hard to know what it is but it is certainly a thing with girls. Boy are frankly going to be more competitive and aggressive (or not) and will find that outlet in sport.
