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Global FC + Finesse Soccer Clinic

Global FC + Finesse Soccer Clinic

Soccer builds communities

Our partnership with Global FC began in 2017. When Mariya – the founder of Global FC – and I first met, we discussed starting out by offering clinics just for the Global FC girls. Our longer-term vision was to include players from both the Global FC program and the Finesse Soccer program to train together.

In May 2019, our vision came to life! Special thank you to the KC Soccer Dome for hosting us in their beautiful new facility. It was a wet, soggy morning and the soccer fields we planned on using were under water. The team at KC Soccer Dome graciously opened their doors to us so we could hold this event.

The clinic was completely free; the Finesse Soccer coaches volunteered our time and the KC Soccer Dome donated the field space.

The plan

The plan for the morning was to run a session similar to what we do throughout the year in our all girls soccer clinics: begin with a dynamic warm-up, rotate through skill stations, break for interactive empowerment discussions and then conclude with scrimmage.  In discussion with Global FC, we decided to address bullying in our empowerment discussions, as this is (unfortunately) present in all our communities.  

Icebreakers

Before we jumped in to warm-up, we led a fun game of Championship Rock Paper Scissors. At the beginning of the clinic, the Global FC girls and Finesse Soccer girls kept mostly to themselves, choosing to interact mostly with girls from their respective programs. By the end of the clinic, we were a blended community, learning from our similarities and strengthened by the powerful force we possess as female athletes.

Warmup

Liz (a Finesse parent and fitness guru) ran the warm-up, and boy were those girls ready to roll! 

Skill Stations

Players were divided by age and rotated through stations to learn and work on new skills, including ball control, dribbling, and finishing.

Goalkeeper Clinic

Anybody who was interested, with previous goalkeeper experience or not, could do goalkeeper drills instead of rotate through the skills sessions.

Empowerment discussions

With our coaching staff facilitating, the girls divided into small age-appropriate groups and discussed topics like what it means to be brave, strong and powerful. And how we can make our communities better by treating one another with kindness and respect. Perhaps most importantly, how we all have the power to stand up to bullying behavior.

Scrimmage

Our Global FC + Finesse Soccer clinic concluded with a scrimmage, lots of high fives and smiles.

Thank You!

We had a great turnout for the first ever Global FC + Finesse Soccer all girls soccer clinic. Thank you to the families who attended, and to those who brought donations for our friends at Global FC!