by Jonathon Hagger (19/2/25)
Above: Three players, one from each of the This Girls Ability hubs, warming up on Tournament Day. Photo: Danni Fairbairn.
“I look forward to my football sessions, we are all friends and a team, we all support each other in the sessions and I am more confident and happy, it is somewhere where I can be myself and am accepted, it’s one of my happy places to be.”
The power of football to bring people together and unite them as a family is proven in the work done by This Girl’s Ability, an East London-based non-profit organisation encourages and supports girls and young women to engage in physical and social activities through the mode of football. With 70 members being involved in the football program, football is proving to be a success.
The original intent was to involve girls with disabilities to participate in a range of activities such as swimming, football, multi-sports, and pop culture. However, football has clearly won out as the favourite activity for all. This is more than just a sporting activity as they develop their football abilities across three different locations — it’s a family.
Nichola Fairbairn (Nikki), the director of This Girl’s Ability, began her path into Disability Sport at the conclusion of studying for her Sports Science degree in 2019. The topic of inclusion really grabbed her heart. It was through investigating what activities were available to young people that were offered by the local council, that introduced her to the world of disability sport.
“When you’ve worked with young people, you don’t want to do anything else. It touches my heart, and you know you’re making a positive impact.”
Following her volunteer work with the Council, Nikki worked for a local charity. The charity’s sports offerings were very popular with boys but not with girls. Asking the question, ‘Why aren’t girls coming to these sessions?’ was the catalyst for the This Girl’s Ability initiative. It was important to recognise that girls face the challenges of adolescence differently from boys.
“At their age girls are really self-conscious about their appearance, they often drop out of sport and add into that the barriers of disabilities, it’s a lot.”
Fast forward to September 2023 and the non-profit organisation This Girl’s Ability was formed as a charitable entity. Nikki can’t pinpoint the spark that became the name, but she talks about “everyone has their abilities, it’s not what we can’t do – it’s what we can do!”, and so every new player who joins begins by asking them ‘what can you do?’
The first session, or gathering of players, was held in January 2023. When working with players with disabilities there needs to be some flexibility including adaptations, in terms of the drills and skills being practised, but every session still has a core focus. What makes the sessions unique is that the players themselves lead the training under the oversight of the conveners.
“Our success to date in keeping and retaining our members is that it’s their session. If they are going to be playing their way, then they are going to be engaged in sport. A lot of the time they don’t think ‘I’m doing physical activity’ because they are having so much fun.”
Volunteer development and progression are other key areas of success. Three of the This Girl’s Ability volunteers have completed the FA Introduction to Coaching Football course which gives them increased confidence and the ability to coach their peers. One highlight for these volunteers was having the opportunity to run a training session for Women’s Championship team, Charlton Athletic.
“I enjoy supporting our members and coming up with fun activities and drills for them to take part in. I love leading the activities and making our members laugh, it shows that they are having fun and having a good time. I also enjoy the other opportunities we have had, such as holding a coaching session for Charlton Athletic Women,” said one of the volunteers.
An interesting twist to the story is that a lot of the members of This Girl’s Ability often aren’t fans of football before they get involved. Everyone is encouraged to try one session to get a feel for how it works, and the success rate of keeping players is extraordinarily high.
Not only does this result in player numbers increasing, but the players themselves have evolved into supporters of women’s football. With a lot of the players living in and around the area of West Ham United, there is a strong supporter base coming through. With the connection to Charlton Athletic, players have had the opportunity to be involved in match-day experiences such as being team mascots.
“One of our members came to a match, she had never been to a football match before, she hadn’t even seen the match yet, and came out of the shop with a pair of gloves with the team written on them! She’s since bought clothing items and kit as well.”
Football is contagious
Becoming a football coach was never in Nikki’s plans. Before starting the non-profit organisation, she wasn’t even a fan of the sport, in large part due to the way football would dominate conversations among her male colleagues. Now, she recognises how valuable football is for building community and bringing people together. Meeting other supporters and making friends is something special that the players have also experienced.
Leading and running This Girl’s Ability is a lot of work and Nikki doesn’t do it alone. Her daughters Danni and Zoe also support it, so it’s a family affair.
A parent of a player shared: “I can’t express enough gratitude for my daughter being around her kind of people. I also get support as a parent by meeting parents in similar situations.”
The participating girls can’t wait to be given their This Girl’s Ability football shirt. Some players often wear their shirts to sessions that aren’t football practices. The sense of belonging is special to each person.
What happens in a session?
Each week a football session runs for around an hour. Like football everywhere, it includes a warm-up and skills and drills. There is a session plan for the coaches but these are used as an indicative direction rather than for specific tasks. Everyone is invited to contribute an idea for an activity as the time is for the players. Even though each session is built on fun, each week a match finishes off the hour.
“Some of our players are quite young and the week after we went and watched West Ham Women, at the week’s session the players went all in. The players put their hands in before the start, both teams lined up and went through and shook hands and now that happens every week. It’s very serious!”
The age range of participants is very broad starting at 10-years-old and spanning through to 25. As participant numbers have grown, the decision has been made to keep the players all in one group rather than separating by age. For specific skills and drills, older and younger players will work together with everyone coming together again for the final match.
Having expanded to three hubs has created a new dynamic of competition and relationships as each hub can come together and hold tournaments.
What is the future of This Girl’s Ability?
Growing and expanding is a great idea, but not at the cost of losing the ethos of This Girl’s Ability. Nikki’s desire is to ensure that the non-profit organisation retains its personal touch. The volunteers and players alike genuinely care about each other and all the families.
“While we are an hour-a-week football session, it means so much to the girls coming together, and we do so much more than just that one-hour session. The girls have really fallen in love with football.”
Highlights and Achievements
- All members have a This Girl’s Ability football shirt on joining the team to create a sense of belonging.
- Nine players have been involved as mascots for West Ham United FC.
- A relationship with West Ham United Women as a sister club has been established. Six tickets are given out for each home match funded by Neil Taylor and The Hammers For Work Support Group.
- Members were supported to attend an opening training for West Ham United in 2024.
- Two tours of the Chigwell Construction Stadium, home of West Ham United Women and Dagenham & Redbridge FC have been attended. The girls created a video for social media and many were inspired by the West Ham United Women’s team players.
- Sixteen players and 30 family and friends attended a Charlton Athletic Women match and were mascots and flag bearers.
- On International Day of Persons with Disabilities, members and coaches joined in a development session with the Charlton Athletic FC women’s team: https://youtu.be/4LnI_FwCRyA?si=JbrAhQn5foYU5O–
- Two football tournaments have been held so far, one at West Ham Women’s Training Ground and the other at Dagenham.
- West Ham United players Amber Tysiak and Jess Ziu have attended football training sessions in Havering.
- A creative player engagement initiative was run to support the 2023 Women’s World Cup, including putting a design on a ball and shirts.
To find out more, visit https://www.thisgirlsability.co.uk/
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