Club News
Into the Lions’ den
Published by Gillingham Ladies Media on January 26, 2010
Gills Ladies took their stars into the community at the weekend to coach the next generation of Faye White’s.
The lucky recipients of the hour long session were Sittingbourne Lions under 11s girls team, they were only formed 4 weeks ago but already boast an impressive 15 girls.
Gills Ladies manager Ian Varley put the girls through a specially designed training session assisted by Captain Becky Lyon and star striker Ashlee Hincks.
The highlight of the session was a 7 versus 7 match to finish the hour, in which Becky and Ashlee captained a team each, in a very competitive 2-2 draw.
Sittingbourne Lions Girls manager Andy Evans said: “It is fantastic to be manager of the girl’s team; I am really enjoying it as they are a great bunch of girls. My aim is to have two girls team as they play 7 aside games at this age.”
They are not resting on their laurels at the Lions and they have already lined up the girls first ever game on the 13th February and they also have their first sponsors thanks to local company T and D Motors.
The Gills were only too delighted to head out into the community and coach the upcoming Rachel Yankey’s when they were asked.
Captain Becky Lyon often gives up her time to promote Gills Ladies in the local community alongside her fellow stars like Ashlee Hincks and Natalie Crinean.
Talking about the session, Becky said: “We really enjoyed the session with them; it was good to coach girls that are so enthusiastic and are obviously really enjoying playing football.”
Whilst they were there Director of Football Martin Andrews and the girls were only delighted to present a £5,000 cheque to Sittingbourne Lions FC.
The grant was awarded to the club by the Football Foundation; the UK’s Largest Sports Charity and will allow the Lions to expand the number of teams and age groups that they can cover.
Martin Andrews was full of praise for his counterparts at Sittingbourne, he said: “They are a well run team and we was delighted to be involved with them today, this team will grow in size.
“They just started a girl’s team and to have the amount of players and the talent there is it was amazing to watch. Credit to all the coaches and committee members of the Lions.”