Girls’ section
Welcome to the fastest growing section of the Club!
The Girls’ Section has over 400 female members with teams playing child friendly and competitive football in the Hertfordshire Girls Football Partnership League. In the 2023-24 season, we had almost 30 league teams playing from U8s to U18s
We are also excited to have introduced the coaching curriculum developed by our Head of Football Development (a professional coach) to our Girls’ section from the Under 7s in the 21/22 season onwards. This is great news, not just for the girls, but also for any mums and dads who would like to coach or run girls’ squads. The supportive framework of the coaching curriculum is the perfect introduction to coaching for people of any football ability. All you need is a passion to provide a safe, fun and supportive environment for girls to enjoy and develop as players.
A lot of our year groups are oversubscribed, but there may be scope to create additional squads if we have enough players and volunteers. Please register interest for your daughter by joining our waitlist and please let us know if you have capacity to volunteer in any way at the Club.
Quick links
The squads
We operate two to three girls’ squads across most year groups between U8s to U18s. Our U7s train as a year group and girls will be placed into match squads at the end of their first season with us.
Our girls’ squads play in the Hertfordshire Girls Football Partnership League, which runs ‘child friendly’ (non-competitive leagues) for U8s to U11s and competitive leagues for U12s and above. In a typical season squads will play around 20 league matches.
Girls’ league matches take place on Saturday mornings. Most squads train on a weekday evening, on a floodlit 3G pitch. Under 7s train on a Saturday morning.
Key contacts
SARA CRUTE-MUSSELL
Girls’ & Women’s Development Officer
Sara is also a Girls’ section Year Group Lead coach
Sara can be contacted on
Paul Wright
Girls’ Football Lead
Paul is our Girls’ Football Lead, with a remit to oversee coaching and player development in our girls’ section.
Paul is a lead coach for his youngest daughter’s squad and it is fair to say that his family is ‘all in’ when it comes to the girls’ section at Harpenden Colts: his wife Gillian is also a coach, and both his daughters play for the club!
Paul is committed to ensuring that all of our players develop as footballers and athletes, and that they leave Harpenden Colts with a lifelong love for the sport. Paul will work closely with the club’s football development officer and professional coach
Paul can be contacted on
League
The Hertfordshire Girls Football Partnership League holds the FA Charter standard accreditation, which is awarded to clubs and leagues rigorously adjudged to be well-run and sustainable – and which prioritise child protection, quality coaching and implementation of the Respect Programme.
“I love playing for Colts because it makes us fit and great at teamwork. You also make friends.”
Sophie, U8s
“Playing for Harpenden Colts is about more than just the football. Although I love playing the game, the friendships I have formed have made my 10 years as a Colts player what they are. I have so many amazing memories of this club and I encourage anyone to get involved and give it a go!”
Megan, U18s
“Although, as with most things, we needed to give Beth a bit of a push to give Colts a go, she immediately loved it as soon as she got to her first session. She was excited to play football like her big brother does and have her own ‘professional’ kit. She feels like she is training and learning from really helpful and supportive coaches, but without any pressure. She just finds it fun playing with other girls and it’s allowed her to socialise with new faces. She loves the mini-game at the end of each session and is always delighted whether she scores a goal or not.”
Parent of U8 player
Women’s Beginners Football
We’re delighted to see the growth in women’s football at all levels of the game. To support this, we have a women’s training squad where some of the mums of our youth players and our female coaches/volunteers have a weekly coaching session with our professional coach.
If you would like to find out more information about these sessions, please contact Sara Crute-Mussell.
