Who are we?
We are the Belfast Ravens - a cross community female football club, with no male affiliation club, and with 3 teams competing in the NIWFA which, as far as we're aware, makes us the biggest adult women's club in the UK.
We're always looking to expand and introducing more and more women to football.
We have a massive social aspect to the football club and you'd be forgiven for thinking we're a social club that does football on the side.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Give It A Go Football encourages women from 21 years old and above, with little or no football experience, to come along and give football a go. It's an introductory programme to getting fit, learning the rules of the game, maintaining healthy exercise and nutrition, all under the football drills and coaching of licensed coaches from the Belfast Ravens.
We believe the exercise and fun activities within the programme are key assets to improvement of mental health, with an environment where fun is a priority and participants will notice the benefits and be keen to continue their football journey.
- Week 1 – Introductory session. Fitness first and learning about it's importance in the game. New stretches and basic rules of the game. There will be some drills based around communication and learning names. We will teach about how the foot strikes the ball. We’ll also cover learning about defending / attacking positions and the offside trap. Drills will include 'Red Light/Green Light' to progress understanding.
- Week 2 – Further learning of the game with corners, throw ins, free kicks. Drills focusing on sharpness/ staying on your toes and passing.
2nd half of the session to focus on the ball - control, passing and receiving. - Week 3 – Maintaining healthy exercise and nutrition with our fitness coach. Further progression of ball control with movement, and introduction to tackling. Footballing terms that can be heard on and off the pitch will be taught.
- Week 4 – Continuation of previous weeks passing and receiving and introductory drills on shooting. Learning about goalkeeping, match day preparation and refereeing. More drills on communication along with passing and running.
We’ll also look at full game procedure - Warm ups, drills, team talks, formation, half time team talk and overall game plans.
How we’ll spend the money raised
- Venue hire: £75 per 1 hour session at Paisley Park for 4 weeks - £300
- Coaching Costs - £400 (2 coaches, £50 / week)
- 10 match footballs to be used for the new Give Football A Go initiative @ £20 - £200
- 15 Ravens shirts @ £45 - £675
The participants will have the option to meet up once a week on a all weather astro turf pitch where Belfast Ravens coaches will lead fitness drills, football games and talk about the theory behind the game in a light hearted and safe environment.
There will also be information about rules and nutrition and all of it will be curated by the Belfast Ravens.
The money will cover the cost for hiring the pitch, raising awareness
Community impact
Overall the Belfast Ravens are looking to integrate themselves into the community even more and build stronger foundations for the future, creating plenty more of these unique opportunities for women in football.
Our home pitch and training ground are in two under-privileged disadvantaged areas, Cregagh road where are home pitch is based and Pasiley park in North Belfast where training will take place. The aim is to attract women from 21 years and above from these areas into a more healthy lifestyle.
There will be a massive social side to the programme, not only with the coming together and the teamwork drills but also a social side that the Belfast Ravens are keen to promote outside of the pitch.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!