To celebrate Dunedin’s role as host city in next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup, Football New Zealand launched a legacy project which gives girls and women more opportunities to try the sport.
Sarah Stephen and Jess Fuller, of Football South, coached a group of girls from Carisbrook School earlier this week, which coincided with the organisation’s Girls and Women Month.
The pupils were taught football skills and played some games.
Carisbrook was the first Dunedin school to be part of the project, and Football South would visit Brockville in the coming weeks.
The aim was to reach schools that did not have as much access to equipment, Stephen said.
Carisbrook School principal Katrina Munro was thrilled with the Football South initiative.
She was especially pleased to see Stephen and Fuller leading the girls, as it showed there was a pathway for females in the sport.
"Football is becoming really popular with girls," she said.
"We had the footballs out today [Tuesday] and we could see the girls out there following up from what they were doing yesterday."
