Everton FC and Working Links encourage Liverpool ladies into sport

England and Everton Ladies' goalkeep Rachel Brown

Following the Sky Sports sexism scandal, Everton FC are launching a course to encourage more women into sport.

The club's charitable arm, Everton in the Community, has joined forces with leading work and skills organisation, Working Links, to run a six-week training programme, dubbed "Outside the Box" to help unemployed women in Merseyside gain qualifications in football and other sports.

Based at Goodison, the Everton Foundation course starts in February and certificates include Level One FA football coaching, disability football coaching and basketball coaching.

Other qualifications and workshops available include certificates in employability, business awareness, safeguarding children, equality and diversity, health and safety and first aid.

England Women and Everton Ladies goalkeeper Rachel Brown, recognised as one of the best goalkeepers in the country, is one of the tutors on the course.

She said: “The course offers the chance to gain a variety of qualifications and really helps build self-confidence as well as learning to work well as a team with lots of new people.”

Working Links has already run a highly successful course with the the club to encourage young people of both genders to gain sports coaching and skills certificates. So far, 26 people have completed the course, which has a 100 per cent success rate.

Rachel added: "I've seen the changes in people's attitudes and self-esteem improve over the six- week course which is a brilliant feeling for staff and the young people involved who gain the qualifications. It's an amazing opportunity and one any woman shouldn't miss out on."

The training course is run as part of Working Links’ Community Direct project funded via the European Social Fund and begins on Tuesday 22nd February.

It has been developed by Working Links’ Sports Development and Social Inclusion manager Richard Ellison in conjunction with Everton in the Community, which uses the power of sport to motivate, educate and inspire the community through sport and social opportunities.

Richard said: “As well as the qualifications, the course provides transferable skills that can be taken to any job. Whilst we use football as a subject that has a huge place in Merseyside hearts, the qualifications gained at Everton can be used in everyday life.

"To have a 100per cent success rate is no fluke. We’ve developed this with other clubs such as Middlesbrough and found the same results there too. This course will be the first purely for women and will showcase the fact that there is a place for women in football."

For further details on this opportunity, please contact Working Links Liverpool office on 01512 552 870. For further information about Working Links, call freephone 0800 917 9262 or visit www.workinglinks.co.uk.

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