Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team manager, Sue Ronan, was joined at the Aviva Stadium by several members of her squad including Stephanie Roche, Denise O’Sullivan and Shelbourne’s recent FAI Cup hat-trick hero, Leanne Kiernan, to announce the 2017 Aviva Soccer Sisters.
The Aviva Soccer Sisters, which is open to girls aged 7 – 12 years old, will see a range of initiatives take place in 2017 aimed at attracting new girls to play football, but to also foster the enjoyment of the those already playing the game.
Along with the traditional Easter Camps, there will be both club and school programmes and a new Aviva Soccer Sisters Nursery Academy which will give girls between the ages of 5 and 8 years old the chance to play football for the first time.
Aviva’s sponsorship will aim to expand the number of venues across the country to 120 in 2017 and Aviva will also host a Soccer Sisters National Blitz at the Aviva Stadium in May 2017. This will give young players from all over the country the chance to play on the famous Aviva pitch.
Sue Ronan, Women’s National Team Manager, Republic of Ireland, said; “Over the last six years the Soccer Sisters Easter Camps has become a very important programme for introducing young girls to the game and has been one of the main reasons we’ve seen a huge growth in numbers at underage level. The next step is to create proper links from this programme to the clubs so these young girls will continue in the game and become the stars of the future."
Stephanie Roche, Sunderland Ladies and Republic of Ireland, said; “It's great to see so many option for young girls, getting them involved at an early age is vital and it will only boost the number of girls playing in Ireland which in turn gives us a bigger pool of players to choose from on an international front.”
Mark Russell, Sponsorship Manager, Aviva Ireland, said; “Aviva are delighted to be involved with the Soccer Sisters programme for 2017. We want to help expand the reach of the Soccer Sisters camps across the country to help get more clubs and schools involved in 2017. Along with the Aviva Soccer Sisters camps in clubs and schools there will also be the Easter Camps and the Nursery Academy which gives girls from 5 – 8 years old the chance to try football in a fun environment. This is another of Aviva’s grassroots programmes along with our sponsorship of the IRFU’s Mini Rugby that we are helping to create the heroes of tomorrow who will hopefully be wearing the green jersey in years to come.”
Pre-registration for next years camps is open and can be done online through www.soccersisters.ie and to register your interest in hosting an Aviva Soccer Sisters camp in 2017, either in your club or through your school contact SoccerSisters@FAI.ie