NorWest Soccer has run one of the biggest community recreational programs in London since 1979, so it made sense when NW families started asking NW for an indoor house league for girls – since the only consistent options for girls to play indoor soccer has been co-ed or competitive locally.
“There were those that told me it couldn’t be done, but as a recreational player since 2003 (shout out to SistasInSoccer.com) and a mother of two girls in sport, I recognize the importance of combining physical activity with a social environment and leadership girls can identify with; so I started the groundwork for She’s Got Goals in 2018,” said Jennifer Jaquith.
(*Note: 70% of Canadian children quit sport by age 13; that number DOUBLES for girls – per Canada Sport for Life and RIS Keeping Girls in Sport online course).
“The first couple of years, we the lacked enough registrants to make teams (just twenty-six U7 through U18 participants in Fall 2019, and forty-eight in Fall 2020),” Jaquith said, “but I didn’t want to disappoint the players that had committed by cancelling, so we converted to a Skills & Scrimmage program, using female high school students as coaches to offer someone to look up to and keep the girls playing!
NorWest lost some families who returned to co-ed because it wasn’t a ‘real league’ but recognized the importance of what the girls were asking for. They wanted more than inclusion; they were asking for a league of their own – like Outdoor!
“My daughters helped me design She’s Got Goals branded t-shirts that we thought they’d wear on AND off the pitch (coaches got coordinating ones!), and I kept promoting SGG – pandemic or not,” added Jaquith. “I maintained that, if we built it, they would come. And this year, it really caught on!”
SGG caught like fire, relative to its early days. Jaquith had to keep going back to the BMO Centre for more fields. By October, there were enough players for six small-sided game for U8 teams, and four each in U10, U12, U14, and U18; with 175+ girls registered for U6 through U18 and nearly all female coaches (in the signature matching swag) and referees – because, as Jaquith says, “You have to see it to be it!”
Enough female coaches volunteered that NW added another layer of the Female Mentorship to the Indoor season, opening a Google Classroom that offers fully subsidized Canada Soccer and NCCP courses for all of its female coaches – with hopes to seed Outdoor participation and prove that “Moms CAN coach!”
In Outdoor 2021, NW had female referees for 90% of female played games and has already seen a sharp increase in the number of female coaches volunteering for summer 2022. The NW plan is to continue to strengthen coaching and refereeing by offering #ForFemale (only) CSA courses annually and continuing to mentor, hire, and train equitably.
Jaquith’s excitement for the upcoming season is clear.
“Between the success of London’s Jessie Fleming [#17 National team & NorWest Soccer alumni], the Women’s 2020 Olympic Gold in soccer, and the US National team’s recent win on the right to equal pay, Soccer #ForFemales is all over the news, and our girls’ 2022 Outdoor registration is on par with the boys’ numbers for a change! And folks will want to watch for our SGG day camp this year too!”
They said it couldn’t be done but … She’s Got Goals!
Submitted by NorWest Soccer
