Jennifer Pittorino
Women are encouraged to start their football journeys at the two new programs introduced at the Parkside Spurs Women’s Football Club in Footscray.
Spurs player Amanda Butcher and other players have designed the programs to increase women’s participation in the game.
“We have been trying to increase women’s participation in sport, primarily in the AFL and we found since COVID getting people to play has been really challenging”, she said.
The first of the new programs is a competition called non contact, which is essentially football combined with netball.
Differences are in the non-contact games, the ground is smaller than a regular football ground.
Butcher said the second program is QuickKick, which is a clinic being run to teach women 35 and older the basic skills of the game.
“It is essentially Auskick for older women”, she said.
Butcher said many women haven’t had exposure to sport so they tend to be nervous about getting started.
“We are trying to come up with a new concept to introduce them to the sport by giving them a chance to get into the game without the intensity of the professional league,” she said.
“The game is designed for learning as you go, the umpires coach you rather than tell you off.”
Unlike regular football, players stay in their own section and keep to their positions similarly to those of netball.
Butcher said they have had amazing responses to the QuickKick program so far.
“The women say they have always wanted to start playing; they just never had a chance before,” she said.
There will be a non-contact game run every second Saturday at alternating grounds at 10.30am, followed by a masters game at noon and again at 2pm.
Details: www.facebook.com/parksidefootyclub
