Sleaford Town Junior FC girls coach Suzy Stephen is optimistic for the future of the women’s game, seeing first-hand the progress that has been made in terms of quality and participation.
It is no secret that, both domestically and globally, women’s football has enjoyed a massive boom in recent years. In England, football coaches and clubs are determined that the Lionesses’ 2022 European Championship triumph is not to be regarded as job done, but only the beginning of an exciting new era in the sport.
As well as being active within the grassroots community at Sleaford as a coach and the club’s Diversity & Inclusion Lead, Suzy also coaches academy football as part of her role with Lincoln City Foundation. The 17-year-old is one of the new generation working to bring through the next Chloe Kelly, Lucy Bronze, and Ellen White.
While balancing her coaching roles with other commitments such as schoolwork and working a part-time job can prove difficult, Suzy is as dedicated as it comes to ensuring that the children she coaches fall in love with the game.
Suzy told Fen Regis Trophies: “I think the [Lionesses’] success, and the way they’ve gone on the past few years, has contributed so much as to the increase in girls getting into the game.
“I’m seeing so many more girls joining in because they are seeing that you can go somewhere with this. It’s no longer just an extracurricular activity.
“It could be a career and it’s good to see girls from young age groups getting involved, because that’s what we are trying to push for.”
Getting into Coaching
Like many grassroots coaches, Suzy’s story is not so dissimilar in the way that coaching was always something she aspired to get into, despite her young age. It was the need for someone to step up for her younger sister’s team.
“I played up until I was 16,” Suzy said. “My team started to fold and I knew that if I didn’t go elsewhere then I wouldn’t have a team.
“I was going to go elsewhere until my sister, who’s now 10 and at the time was eight, was starting to show an interest in football.
“I started coaching them and I just fell in love with it. Coaching wasn’t on the horizon [for me] until I was 16.”
Having been bitten by the coaching bug, Suzy has wasted no time in accruing her badges having already obtained an FA Level One qualification in football, futsal, and disability football, and is working towards her UEFA C badge. She currently coaches Sleaford Town Junior’s Under-10s Girls team, as well as working across the Under-10 to Under-16 age groups at Lincoln City.
Girls in Grassroots and Academy Football
Working on both sides of the fence, Suzy has a unique perspective on the grassroots vs. academy football debate. She says that, especially for girls, both are just as important as the other.
“If you’ve got the skill play academy football, but what I’ve seen in most academy players, especially girls because there aren’t as many limits as boys, we’ve got many that play for two grassroots teams as well as the academy.”
Most junior (Under-14 and below) age groups are classed as mixed-sex, which means that girls can – and often do – play alongside the boys. This is something that many coaches, including Suzy, insist girls do.
“I want more girls teams as that is what I am advocating for and it is important to understand that the boys game is a different game, but if you have got the skill to be in that group and develop, then you should.
“If someone is finding it easy in a girls team or league, they should 100% be playing with the boys if they’ve got the skill.”
Early Coaching Achievements
Still a newcomer to coaching, Suzy has enjoyed success on the touchline and was recognised in her first season by her club. Though Suzy admits she was never a great player, she was always coachable, which she puts down as the reason for the fine start to her coaching career.
“My proudest achievement would have to be last year when I won manager of the year at Sleaford Town Junior Football Club,” said Suzy. “It was my first season officially coaching, so I was proud of that.
I think another one of my proudest achievements would be when my Under-10s went unbeaten in a tournament.
“They are quite a good team, but they’re not top of the league – them going unbeaten was probably my proudest achievement knowing that I had got them to that level.”
Outside of football, in between juggling shifts at work and studying for exams, Suzy also found time to run an incredible 167 miles in 28 days through February. The Sleaford coach managed to raise £636 for Macmillan Cancer Support in doing so.
“The actual challenge was 28 miles in 28 days, but I’m already quite an active person, so I thought that was pointless as no one will donate because they know I’d do it.
“I went online and did a bit of research and found that around 167,000 people die every year because of cancer, so I challenged myself to complete 167 miles in 28 days.”
“It was the hardest thing [I’ve ever done],” Suzy admitted. “The main problem was finding the time to do it!
“Most days I was having to do a 10K and I don’t have the time to dedicate an hour a day, so it was really difficult to find the time.
“Because of how busy I was, I was absolutely shattered all the time. It was difficult.”
Suzy will be starting university in September and, even with the time and dedication her studies will demand, she will remain a fixture within the grassroots football community – and you suspect for many more years to come.
By Aaron Gratton
