In Manchester, 19-year-old Shauna, from Fallowfield, is one of the Young Leaders for the City Girls project.
The project is focused on girls’ empowerment and aims to reach over 250 girls across the city, tackling the issue of young female footballers dropping out of the game in their teenage years, whilst also building their confidence and leadership skills.
It’s something Shauna is extremely passionate about.
She believes retaining girls and giving them the opportunity to play football is vital and told mancity.com why fans should vote for City Girls in this year’s Cityzens Giving...
“Keeping girls involved in football is really important.
“I stopped playing because of an injury and then when I was fit again my team collapsed because of a lack of funding.
“I was playing at a semi-professional level and it felt like I had to start over again.
“That’s why I got involved with Cityzens Giving. I want to help retain girls because I look back and think I could have carried on playing.
“Girls can be affected by outside influences and some think it’s not socially acceptable to play football, but it is.
“Some don’t have that belief, so I want to be the one to instil the belief in themselves that they can go further.
“We’re creating a relationship with the girls we work with and to see them progress gives you a huge sense of pride. It’s a brilliant feeling and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to work for and progress with City in the Community.
“Football engages everyone and the aim of this project is to give girls the same opportunities as boys. I want to play a big part in that and I want to make this project even bigger.
“I want to know girls are taking part in football because of the work we’ve done.”
City Girls is delivered by City in the Community, and generously supported by SAP.
