Girls Festival in Poipet

Girls’ Football Festival

Saturday, January 1, 2011

This New Year we were pleased to receive a group of twenty young, female football players from SALT in Battambang. The girls led a half-day football festival aimed at getting other teens on the field for the first time. There was no reason for girls in Poipet not to attend! No team? No problem. No money? No need. No skills? That ok! Just come and learn. Kick. Play. Smile. Try.

At 2pm the fields were prepared with five stations to teach different soccer skills. The team had also prepared cones to create small games. At first the forty participants from Poipet seemed nervous. However, Sam Schweingruber from SALT Academy divided the girls into teams and then players from Battambang took responsibility. They coached, they led mini games and prepared a ‘life lesson’ at each station. I was impressed with the way that they spoke to their peers from their own experiences about issues such as trafficking hygiene & drugs. Afterwards, some of the Poipet girls had a friendly game with the Battambang team.

The Girl’s Football Festival confirmed that there are some girls who are eager to play football! It’s a new experience for many. But kick, play, smile seemed to trump the two common alternatives of sitting on the sidelines watching the guys play or staying at home doing nothing! The more experienced young players from Battambang enabled Poipet local girls to dare to try.

download the full report: festival 1.1.pdf (314,4 kB)