Development means First bringing new players to the Gibraltar football scene
Gibraltar Wave FC is happy to have brought many new players to the women`s football scene in Gibraltar who have gone on to other clubs in Gibraltar and even to the National team. Dahlia Salah, Tiana Garcia, Gianelle Hanglin, Julia Lima, and the latest in the Gibraltar Natioanl team who is a Wave through and through Ellen Dixon. We work hard to develop women`s football with the passion needed to turn the many challenges into a solution to benefit the development of women`s football in Gibraltar.
Gibraltar wave FC has grown the female participation base and this shall help the continued and future growth of women`s football in Gibraltar.
We asked ourselves many questions but one that stands out is, How do you motivate a girl to play football?
Our brainstorming on this came up with answers that females like to belong to a women`s only football club, of which very few exist worldwide, and we are the first in the history of Gibraltar. Girls and women need to have a safe space in training and a group they feel comfortable with, a team in which all are encouraged to become role models for each other and especially for the new players we keep bringing on.
The growth in female participation is a major driver of our aspiration. I feel the big mistake in Gibraltar and elsewhere is to “force” men`s teams to have a women`s teams. I feel that the best way for women`s football to progress is to have women`s teams in their own right and even for women`s teams to be the ones who create a men`s teams and not the other way round as is currently the case, not just in Gibraltar, as I said, but worldwide.
Girls and women need an enjoyable experience and common sense tells me having clean toilets with doors, something that most boys and men toilets don`t have as many are simply urinals, is a must. Soap dispensers, hand dryers that work, sanitary bins and providing free sanitary products that females can help themselves to are small things with girls and women in mind. Now that Victoria Stadium is going to be refurbished this small issues need to be taken into account. Gibraltar can even me the example for the rest of the world, why not?
Being in an all-female environment allows young girls to be themselves because they are more comfortable. Girls will be more confident in their actions, more willing to try new things and make mistakes by trying again and again. Girls are less afraid to give constructive feedback in a more comfortable environment. Having all female environments allows female leaders and mentors to also feel more comfortable just like the players themselves and thus do a better job of helping the players.
We do our best to promote all the positives of having a female friendly environment. This also involves marketing and promotion to targeted female audiences and the wider community so that the good work done in developing female teams doesn’t go unnoticed making us able to intake new players each year.
Sport has the power to unite people in a way little else can. Sport can create hope. Breaks down racial barriers, laughs in the face of discrimination.
Football speaks to people in a language they can understand. Said the great Nelson Mandela.
The increased number of female coaches is also one very important way to develop women`s football. We work hard on making our members feel valued and want to return. Have fun, socialise with friends in an active environment. Keep fit and healthy. See that they are improving. Experiences challenge and building confidence one little step at a time does work.
Now comes #3x3eachSoccer. We at Gibraltar Wave FC firmly believe that Gibraltar can and will become a force in sports through this new modality of Beach Soccer, #3x3eachSoccer patented by me and in partnership with our friends at Victoria Beach Soccer of Keko Rosano would like this to be a Gibraltar creation. Being a small nation with small rather then extensive beaches, what better than #3x3eachSoccer? This #3eachSoccer modality makes Beach Soccer accessible, even more spectacular with airborne goals counting as 2, but not headers amid continued investigations and studies into the potential health risks associated with regularly heading of a ball, which could include dementia and easy on logistics. I discovered this taking the team to UEFA Beach Soccer Champions League in nazare, Portugal in June 2022.
#3x3eachSoccer has been catered for Gen Z, health for urban dwellers in easy to build in urban areas catering for the millions of football players and billions of football fans worldwide who love being entertained playing and watching the king of sports. The paradise surface, beach sand, can also be used by children to play and build their sand castles!
Two halves of 10 minutes make #3eachSoccer tailor made for Gen Z for watching on a mobile phone. A whole match of Highlights!
