Michael Forbes, Archie Woods and Joseph Anang from the Academy of Football visited the West Ham United Foundation site in Beckton to show their support for teams competing in Lyca Mobile Cup’s girls’ regional qualifiers.
The Lyca Mobile Cup, backed by the Club's Official Telecommunications Partner and hosted by the West Ham United Foundation, has seen a surge in size and popularity in the last year. From 35 boys' and girls' school teams 12 months ago, the competition has expanded to 96 teams this year.
“As an organisation we want to deliver opportunities which provide a sense of connection, raise aspirations and help people to fulfil their potential on and off the pitch, and the Lyca Mobile Cup competition brings this to life,” said Foundation CEO Joseph Lyons.
“Each year these events go from strength to strength and even more so now with the successful addition of the girls’ competition. You can see how much it means to everyone participating and we’re grateful to continue to have the support and commitment from Lyca Mobile to deliver this.”
Now in its second edition, the girls’ competition consists of three regional qualifying tournaments featuring a total of 48 school teams in east London and Essex across two different age groups, U14s and U12s. Of the eight teams in each qualifying tournament, four progress to the finals, due to be held in May.
As part of the Players’ Project – which sees players from the men’s, women’s and Academy squads regularly working with people in the West Ham United community – the U21s trio spent time interacting with the girls, encouraging them before the games and getting involved in pre-game preparations, including the Foundation’s Community Hub School partner Robert Clack.
While Anang got the goalkeeper warmed up, Forbes and Woods directed some stretching exercises and passing drills before offering some words of encouragement prior to kick-off.
The tournament proved a great success with regards to providing an opportunity for girls to showcase their footballing abilities and inspiring them to consider pursuing football as a viable career pathway.
“For a small school like us, having these tournaments is fantastic in terms of showing the girls the wider pathways available in football,” said teacher Lucy Freeman from Great Baddow High School. “So far, it’s been a really fun experience! We came last year, and the girls really enjoyed it.
“It gets us out of our district and playing against schools we’ve never come across before with some intense competition. For a small school like us, having these tournaments is fantastic in terms of showing the girls the wider pathways available in football. So far, it’s been a really fun experience!”
Incidentally, Woods had attended Great Baddow before signing his first professional contract with West Ham United last year and according to their teacher it proved to be an inspiring disclosure for the team: “The girls were very surprised that he went to Baddow. They can relate to him and his footballing pathway so much more, because he went to our school. It’s very exciting for them.”
Freeman added: “I would love to think that for some of these girls becoming a professional footballer could be possible. Having that as an aspiration is so positive. During my time as a teacher, we haven’t really had that with football in comparison to other sports, so it was great to have him down interacting with the girls and showing them that it’s possible.”
Overall, the tournament was a great opportunity for girls to showcase their footballing abilities and build relationships with their peers.
As Neveah from Dagenham Park School put it: “I enjoyed how our team worked together and cooperated throughout the games. Communication was a big part of our success today!”
“The staff have been lovely!” exclaimed one student from Great Baddow. “There hasn’t been much rest between fixtures, so we’ve been getting lots of game time which is great! The organisation has also been fantastic.”