Saturday 1st July saw us host our first ever Huddle Unite Festival. This was a day of fun football activities, run in collaboration with the Football Association of Wales (FAW). The FAW’s Huddle programme is sponsored by Weetabix and aims to create an environment where girls fall in love with the game.
Over 100 girls aged from 4 to 11 attended the festival. Many represented well-established clubs such as the Canton Libs, Clwb Cymric Crocs, Caerphilly Dragons, Llanrumney United and Tondu United. However for many of these girls, this was one of their first experiences kicking a football.
The day involved a carousel of activities, including face-painting, small-sided games, skills sessions and games such as Tails, Treasure Chest and Crocodiles. The sessions were led by a coaching team including first team player Emily Richards, u13s manager Deb Ball, and Dragons Training Centre coaches Emma Bridgeman, Ryan McGavock and Charlotte Galloway, with extra thanks to the younger Dragons Evie and Tiana who helped coach on the day.
The festival had a special guest appearance, from Helen Ward, Cymru legend and Wales’ all-time top goalscorer. Helen joined in with the sessions and gave the youngsters some coaching points along the way!
The girls were treated to an extra surprise, as both the Barclays Women’s Super League and Premier League Trophies were on display throughout the day. Although touching these trophies was strictly forbidden, the girls were able to recreate a trophy lift with the FA Women’s National League trophy won by Cardiff City LFC this year.
Cardiff City LFC last season launched our “Dragons Training Centre”, which provides training sessions for girls on Friday evenings at Amdani Hi @ Ocean Way. We hope that Saturday’s festival will inspire more girls to play the beautiful game, whether by joining our sessions or joining their local Huddle.
For more info and to register for a free session, see www.dragonstrainingcentre.co.uk
