TASS Thistle Girls are the latest grassroots club to be nominated for a prize giveaway from SWPL Principal Partner ScottishPower.
Retiring Ayr United forward Clare Docherty nominated TASS Thistle Girls, whose coach Rebecca Mitchell-Welsh received the new equipment at the team’s training ground in Stevenston from Lauren Stirling, a project coordinator with ScottishPower.
Docherty said: “I’ve nominated TASS because years ago in this area there was no girls team until they allowed girls to play in their boys’ team, allowing the game to grow. We’ve now got around 100 girls at training with a dedicated girl’s pathway.
“When I first started, we wore our own kit to training, and at the weekend our game strips were donated by a boys’ team. Thankfully the game has massively improved since I was younger and it’s nice to see the girls getting such great quality kit thanks to ScottishPower supporting the cause so much.”
TASS Girls coach Rebecca Mitchell-Welsh said: “Grassroots clubs are more than just football, they’re about setting foundations with the girls around health and wellbeing and building friendships too.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to have this new kit donated for them. As a community club, we do a lot of fundraising and sometime the girls find it harder to get sponsors so to have this from ScottishPower, it makes a real difference for us.”
The kit giveaway comes as ScottishPower works closely with both SWF and the SWPL to invest in supporting the continued growth of the women’s game.
Keith Anderson, Chief Executive of ScottishPower, said: “We want to energise women’s football for both current and future generations and build a community of players that inspire even more people to play and enjoy the game.
“That means working with our partners at SWF and the SWPL to help clubs and players overcome barriers to their growth and operation.
“By providing training kit and asking those players at the top of the game to nominate a community club to receive it, we’re making sure that everyone can benefit from this partnership, whether at the elite end of the game or those all-essential grassroots.”