If you’ve got to “that age” where you’ve sat down and thought “I’d like to get a bit more active” but don’t know where to start, well Women’s Walking Football is certainly proving to be a very popular choice for those women who may not have been active for a while or just didn’t know where to start, as well as those who already enjoy a run around!

Last year, after the success of the COGS encouraging “older” women to learn to play Recreational Football, it was thought that we should also cater for those women who might want a slower paced activity, so we looked at the possibility of running COGS’ Walking Football sessions.  On 20th January this year, we set up a session for women 40+.  Walking Football is becoming increasingly popular with those who haven’t played the game before and just want to enjoy being part of an activity where you can have fun and make new friends, while learning how to play the beautiful game.   So much so that we had a surprising, but welcome, 22 women on the first night and, bar one of the first few weeks, have had 22/23 for the others!  That is an amazing response and continues to show that women over 40 want to become active by learning to play football, not only Recreational Football but by playing Walking Football, too.

With a warm up, some stretches and then some drills to learn the basic skills, we then split up into some games.  What is not surprising is the amount of laughter you get from a group of women learning to play!  This is what sessions like ours are all about, as well as welcoming women into an environment where they feel comfortable and not judged on their appearance, skills or banter!

Gemma Cooper, who attended our first session, had this to say about coming along and playing football for the first time:  “When I saw Carol was starting walking football I was keen to give it a try. I enjoy football and have teenage children who I watch play every weekend. I haven’t done any sport since leaving school, I am not competitive or very motivated. I just wanted to do something for me, to get moving and have fun. I roped in 2 of my friends to come along with me to the first session for moral support. When we arrived there were loads of friendly faces. I have rheumatoid arthritis so often get lots of pain in my joints. I take it at my own pace and I’ve always been well supported and encouraged by the other ladies who go. Everyone there has different levels of ability, no one judges anyone and it’s nice to learn from each other in a relaxed atmosphere. We spend lots of the sessions laughing and having fun, I’ve learnt new skills and made new friends. I really look forward to going to walking football now. My 2 friends have continued to come with me and they enjoy it. It makes me smile when I get home on a Monday evening and my children ask ME “how was football?” It’s nice that they’re interested and we’ve got something to chat about!” 

It’s also amazing to see the progress of the women who have never played before.  In just 4 weeks, they’re looking up, passing the ball and moving about the pitch like they’ve been playing for a lot longer!  We also have some COGS who attend who have been a great help in encouraging the women during the session.  Women are empowering women and it’s great to see.

With the receipt of some funding from the #celebratenationallottery25 fund, we have been able to put the cost at £2 per session with the first session being FREE.  This will be ongoing until further notice.

The sessions are held in a school hall so even #stormciara and #stormdennis can’t thwart us playing!

If you’ve ever thought about getting active and don’t know what to do, we will always recommend learning to play football as you go at your own pace, have fun and learn new skills along the way.  Our social events aren’t bad either!

Sessions are run by women for women and are on a Monday evening at Hazelwick School, in Crawley, from 6.30pm – 7.30pm, so not too late either!

See our website for further details or contact cogscrawley@gmail.com.