Stocksbridge Park Steels U9 Girls

Tournament Runners-Up 🥈

A brilliant effort from the girls this weekend as they finished runners-up at the Dinnington Town FC Summer Tournament.

We qualified for the final with a group game to spare, starting quickly, playing some lovely football, and scoring 11 goals across our group games. More importantly, the girls worked hard, played for each other, and showed real bravery throughout the day.

The final was a close one and we came away on the wrong side of a 1-0 result, but the girls should be incredibly proud of what they achieved.

Coach’s note to self: no ice creams until AFTER our matches next time! 🍦 ⚽🙈

Well done girls. 💛💙

A few more photos from last weeks’ sponsored walk 🥾⚽

Lots of smiles, soooooo much energy ⚡️and a lovely chance for them to spend time together away from the football pitch.

Thanks again to everyone who supported them, donated or shared the page.

Well done, girls! 👏

Sponsored walk update: They did it! 🎉

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported the girls with such generous donations. We’ve far exceeded our target, and we’re incredibly grateful for every contribution.

Your support will help create some fantastic memories for the team while also giving the girls valuable opportunities to continue developing their football skills and confidence.

🟡🔵

One day to go until the girls take on their sponsored walk and the support so far has been fantastic! 💙💛

They’ve already passed both the original target and the stretched target, which is more than we expected before they’ve even done the walk!

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated, sponsored the girls, or shared the page. It really is appreciated.

The page will stay open for anyone who still wants to sponsor them, and anything extra raised will go straight towards supporting the team. 💛💙

Walking shoes ready! 🥾⚽

Help raise £350 to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! – JustGiving Crowdfunding Iʼm raising money to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! . Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

Five days to go until our sponsored walk and we just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has donated and sponsored the girls so far! 💙💛

We originally set ourselves a target of £250, and thanks to your support, we’ve already hit it. Brilliant! 👏

So, with a few days still to go, we’ve nudged the target up to £350 just to see if we can get a little bit further and raise even more money for the team.

We’re already really grateful for the support we’ve had, but if anyone would still like to sponsor the girls, or even just share the page, it would be hugely appreciated.

The girls are really looking forward to it now! 🥾⚽

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sps-u8-girls

Thank you again from all of us at Stocksbridge Park Steels U8 Girls. 💙💛

Help raise £350 to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! – JustGiving Crowdfunding Iʼm raising money to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! . Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

Just under two weeks to go until our sponsored walk, and the girls are already looking forward to doing their bit for the team!

We’re hoping to raise £250, which will go towards supporting the girls as they continue their journey into U9 football.

If you’re able to donate, even a small amount would be massively appreciated. And if you can’t donate, a share would still really help us spread the word.

Thank you, as always, for supporting the girls.

Help raise £250 to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! – JustGiving Crowdfunding Iʼm raising money to support Stocksbridge Park Steels under 8s girls football team - SPONSORED WALK! . Support this JustGiving Crowdfunding Page.

Wishing our brilliantly versatile Poppo a very happy birthday! 💙⚽

Funny, kind and caring off the pitch, strong, brave and dependable on it, and always giving everything for the team.

Have the best day, Pops! 🎂✨

Pre-season is already well underway for the girls as we prepare for our U9 season, and last weekend they delivered a really positive showing in a friendly game against a team from the Doncaster league.

The game gave us a good chance to try out a few new things, and what pleased us most was how quickly the girls took those ideas on board. It’s never easy to ask young players to think about different jobs, different starting positions, and different ways of working together, but they really impressed us with how they approached it!

For large parts of the game, we were connected as a team, both when we were defending and when we were trying to play forward, and that was probably the thing that excited us the most! You can start to see little bits of understanding coming together now, and when it clicks, it’s really lovely to watch.

Goals from:

Fearne ⚽
Indy ⚽⚽
Olivia ⚽⚽⚽
Pops ⚽
Scarlett ⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽⚽

Olivia was brilliant again and was our girl of the game. She carried the ball really well, worked hard defensively, and looked full of confidence. She’s been excellent recently.

There was also a lovely moment for Fearne, who scored her first goal for the team. It’s been coming for a while, and when it finally came, it was in proper Fearne style, a first-time shot right into the top bins! We were all absolutely over the moon for her.

Pops was like a cat in goal in the second half, making a couple of excellent diving saves, and she also worked really hard for the team outfield. Indy did the same, playing in goal in the first half before coming outfield in the second, where she carried the ball really well and played some lovely passes.

Scarlett impressed again too, but what we really liked was how much she looked to bring her teammates into the game. She was still a threat herself, but she was also looking up, sharing the ball, and trying to create chances for others, which is a really good sign of her game developing.

Gracie was excellent defensively, reading danger well, making strong tackles, and then looking to play the ball out to teammates rather than just clear it away. That calmness and confidence on the ball is such a big part of how we want the girls to keep developing.

Overall, it was a really encouraging friendly game and a great chance to see the girls trying new things. We're genuinely excited about where this group is heading next!

Well done girls. 👏⚽

What a way to end our first league season! 💛💙

Scarlett ⚽️

Indy ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Olivia 🤝
Fearne 🤝
Scarlett 🤝

Thursday evening saw us play our final league game of the 2025/26 league season at the Stade de Junior School. It was a really good battling performance from the girls, and what pleased us most was that everyone contributed, everyone kept going, and there were so many little signs of progress in the way they played.

There were a couple of bits of play that really stood out, where we managed to string passes together, work our way up the pitch, and create some really good chances for ourselves. We’ve been speaking to the girls a lot recently about decision making, and trying to recognise when they’ve got space to run with the ball, when a teammate is in a better position, or when they need to move into space themselves to receive a pass. To see some of that starting to come through in the game was brilliant, because that’s proper development, and it’s something we’ll keep working on over the summer.

Defensively, we were pretty solid again. Ada, plus Gracie and Sof in the first half, and Fearne, Pops and Scarlett in the second, all did a superb job.

Before the game, we said to the girls that our focus was to play quickly, make quick decisions, and really try to apply our 3-second rule when we lost the ball. At half-time, we still felt they could be a bit quicker, especially from kick-ins, and we wanted them to put a bit more pressure on when the opposition had the ball.

They really delivered on that in the second half.

They looked a bit more determined, a bit more switched on, and they started winning the ball back higher up the pitch, which was really pleasing to see. Scarlett gave us some great examples of that, stepping in, winning the ball and then driving forward with real purpose, which is something she’s really good at.

Our attacking play was really good as well. Olivia was on fire 🔥, with non-stop running, working hard for the team, chasing loose balls, trying to win it back high up the pitch, and carrying the ball really well when she had the chance. She assisted for Indy and was unlucky not to get the reward her performance deserved after hitting the post, but the work rate and the intent were exactly what we want to see.

India was relentless too. She was a constant threat, held the ball up really well high up the pitch, brought her teammates into play with some lovely passes, and still helped out defensively when we needed her to. That balance was really good to see.

The way the whole game unfolded summed up why we gave Girl of the Game to all of them. It felt like a true team performance, not just because they all worked hard, but also because they all played their part in different ways, and it showed just how far they’ve all come over the last 12 months.

Plenty still to learn, of course, but that’s the exciting bit. 💛💙