Perry Street girls' football club is going from strength to strength. The Billericay-based section are part of Perry Street youth football club and currently run two teams.
But from September the club will be launching a new squad for girls who will be in school years three and four.
The move mirrors the continued growth of women's soccer, although the accent is firmly on football as a fun game.
"The girls' section was formed three years ago to satisfy my daughters', then aged 11 and nine, interest in the game," said Trevor Veitch, who was running the club's under-13 team at the time.
Numbers rapidly grew to around 20 and after 18 months of training, the squad entered the Essex County Girls' Football League at under-12 level for the 1998/99 season.
They finished as runners-up in Division Two and then moved onto under-13 level after a summer of training and five-a-side matches.
With only one division at this level, the Perry Street girls found themselves up against teams from Ipswich Town and Leyton Orient, the Town girls having won the division the previous season.
They were also playing against bigger clubs from Colchester, Chelmsford and Brentwood but managed to score 113 goals in 16 matches to finish third, behind Ipswich and Orient.
Alongside the under-13, Perry Street have also been running a training squad of eight to ten year olds. This team will be playing in the under-11 division of the Essex league.
Mr Veitch is a qulified FA coach who runs the girls' training sessions on Saturdays between 9am and 10.30am at the club's training ground at Barleylands.
"Designed specifically for the age and standard of the girls, the training includes fun games as well as drills," added Mr Veitch, who is a maths teacher in Chelmsford.
"But the over-riding emphasis is on fun and enjoyment."
Anyone interested in joining the club should contact Mr Veitch on 01277 625262.
(Right) Street's ahead - Perry Street's under-13 squad (top) and their under-11 side line-up with coach Tony Veitch
(Left) Up to the test - Perry Street girls' soccer team enjoy some hurdles training
Pictures: MAXINE CLARKE
Reporter's e-mail: paul.alton@newsquest.co.uk
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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