As we get to another Mother’s Day, we like to celebrate those inspirational stories that we always find at COGS.  Lisa & Nicola have been coming to COGS for a while now but in January this year, after our usual Walking Football post to see who was coming to the next session, there was a comment from Lisa…  “Yes please, I’m hoping to bring my Mum too”.  Nicola also commented that she was going to try and come along.   This was great news, as we love to see more women at a later age, joining our sessions and even better when it happens to be one of our COGS’ Mums!   Susan, who is Mum to Lisa and Nicola also came with Lisa’s Mother-in-Law, Margaret, so it was a real family affair.  What we hadn’t banked on was just how good Susan was!  As with many women, Susan didn’t get the chance to play when she was younger and decided at aged 76 that she would start playing Walking Football.  How inspiring is that?  So now, there are 3 generations of women playing – Susan, (Lisa & Nicola’s Mum) and Aimee who is Lisa’s Daughter.

Here is their story, as told by Lisa….

“In January 2019 I was browsing through Facebook and saw an advert to come along to Crawley ‘COGS’ for beginner’s football sessions. My sister Nicola at this point was suffering quite badly with anxiety and other health problems and wasn’t interested in social events. 

We have both always enjoyed watching football from a young age and were lucky enough to be taken to watch Chelsea play at home on a few occasions by our parents. I remember asking my PE teacher if we could play football at school but the response was always ‘girls can play netball or hockey and the boys can play football or rugby’.  

I managed to convince Nicola to come along to a free session after checking with Carol that the session would be suitable for beginners.

In my mind, if I could get her to go along for a few weeks she would then be confident to go without me.  We went along to our first session quite apprehensive and 3 years later it’s one of the highlights of our week! 

We’ve both played in recreational matches and tournaments and more recently, we have persuaded our 76-year-old Mum to join us at ‘walking football’ sessions!  Our Mum would have loved to play when she was younger and has always joined in when we’ve played matches with our children at family picnics.

These sessions have had a really positive impact on our mental health. We laugh our way through the training sessions and everyone is accepted and loved for who they are, not how skilful they are.

My daughter Aimee has been playing since she was 8 years old and thinks it’s amazing that her Nanny is now playing too.  Our Dad is extremely proud that we now have 3 generations of females in our family playing football.  We are planning a family picnic on Mother’s Day and the 3 generations of females will be joining the boys for a kick-about afterwards!”

So, if you ever thought it was too late to start playing football, it definitely isn’t, if you can.  76 years young when Susan started playing and now she’s inspiring others to do the same.  If you want to follow in the footsteps of these wonderful women, look no further than a COGS’ session!

Happy Mother’s Day!