International professional services firm Mourant have pledged their support to the Guernsey Football Association Girls’ Academy for a sixth consecutive year.
The Mourant Girls’ Academy offers opportunities for young women and girls to progress in a sport that has historically been underfunded and less available to them.
There are currently over 80 girls in the eight to 16 age range at the academy.
Over the years, the academy has nurtured numerous talented football players, from members of the women’s Muratti team to England and Manchester United star Le Tissier.
‘Receiving continued support from Mourant is invaluable,’ said Joelle Priaulx, the Guernsey Football Association football operations manager.
‘It provides us with the resources to train at specialised facilities and helps fund trips off-island for the girls to compete in competitive tournaments.
‘Our Girls’ Academy is a pipeline for the players to feed into adult leagues – it really helps to build their confidence and encourage development of important life skills like responsibility, collaboration and sportsmanship.’
Football development officer and Girls’ Academy manager Scarlett Kenneally reflected on the GFA’s recent Women’s Senior Muratti back-to-back wins.
‘Without the sponsorship funding from Mourant, the recent women’s team success would not have been possible,’ she said.
‘Ten of the girls in the team were a part of the Mourant Girls’ Academy when they were younger and have developed into skilled, talented players, built upon the foundations they learnt at the academy.’
Mourant’s continued sponsorship of the academy closely aligns with the firm’s focus on teamwork, development and inclusion, with its funding helping unlock opportunities for Guernsey’s young female players to excel – including specialised training facilities at Victoria Park and the chance to compete off-island.
‘The increased participation of women in all sports, including football, is incredibly important because it teaches young women skills that they will carry forward into later life, such as teamwork, resilience and handling pressure,’ said Alana Gillies Ridout, partner and inclusion leader at Mourant.
‘Recent studies have shown that there’s a strong correlation between athletic participation and leadership development, with 94% of women in C-suite leadership roles having played sports in their youth.
‘We hope that by supporting programmes like the Mourant Girls’ Academy we are investing in the development of our current youth – for enjoyment at the age they are now, but also in their futures.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.