Dietetics student helping make Scottish football a better place for young girls
A Glasgow Caledonian University student has reflected on her love of the beautiful game and personal drive to help make it a better place for young female footballers.
Third year Human Nutrition and Dietetics student Rachel Mair is currently balancing her studies alongside her role as head coach with Motherwell FC Women’s Under-16 team.
We caught up with Rachel to hear about her journey and how she is supporting footballers both on and off the pitch.
Tell me about your footballing background?
“I’m actually the only sporty one in my family, which is ironic! I’ve always been known as the crazy, sporty one but I’m quite glad that’s the case!
“When I was younger, I was the one kicking the ball about with the boys in the playground. I think I ruined a pair of school shoes every week.
“My parents then decided to get me involved in a female team. At that point, Giffnock had an academy going on for the girls and that’s where I’m from. After a couple of years, I then went to Glasgow City who at that time, 2012-2015, were really seen as the holy grail of women’s football.”
How did the coaching side of things come about?
“I continued playing football and ended up captain back at Giffnock. I was actually approached by one of the Giffnock Under-14 coaches who asked me to come down and talk to some of the girls. I went along to a few of the training sessions and absolutely loved it. I had a lot of knowledge from my time playing and I wanted to pass that down.
“It started from there and I went on to have a number of years at Giffnock with the Under-16s, Under-18s and I just decided that I wanted more of a challenge and have that opportunity to really better myself.
“I then went to Motherwell, who are involved in the National Performance Programme, which involves a lot more professional training. My role as Under-16s head coach basically involves looking at nutrition and training, and making sure there is an actual purpose to it. Most importantly, it’s all about getting the girls playing football.”
You’re also keen to get more females involved in coaching?
“I’ve got a massive passion for the game and realise that to improve the female game we need to improve female coaching. At Giffnock there are 199 young females registered to the club and only one female coach. You cannot be what you cannot see.”
Why do you think there is that gap?
“I think a lot of it is to do with society. If you look at it and you look at physical activity, girls from the age of 13-15 fall out of sport. This is down to things like body image and what society thinks is ‘cool’. If girls are continuing in sport then it’s the likes of netball and dancing – it’s all the stereotypical sports. As we go towards the new generation, there will be lots more female coaches and I think that’s in part due to these stereotypes gradually changing.”
Away from coaching you’ve also been looking into Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries in football?
“So the ACL, which is a band of tissue joining the thigh bone to the shin bone at the knee joint, is one of the most prevalent injuries in women’s football. There are many arguments as to why this is, but a lot of it is to do with the female genetic makeup. Females have wider hips and because they’re in more of a ‘V’ shape than men, they become more susceptible to this type of injury. The menstrual cycle also leads to women being more likely to suffer an injury.
“The other factor that has to be taken into consideration is the gender gap we have within football. For example, all football boots available to buy are currently made for men. The studs are positioned for men’s feet.
“Also if you look at women’s football pitches across the board, they aren’t as good. This is due to finances and not having the chance to develop facilities and have access to the likes of sports scientists as well.”
You’ve spoken previosuly about the mental impact these injuries can have – how bad is it?
“It’s massive. The whole diagnosis and time spent out of the game depends on when you get your surgery, but it’s usually around 12 months. There is not enough support for both males and females when it comes to these types of injuries.
“There is a girl in my team who’s still waiting on her second surgery. Her first one straightened her leg and the second one was to fix her actual ACL. It’s tormenting because confidence goes and everything else along with it.”
You joined forces with Rangers striker Kirsty Howat to help raise awareness, how did that all come about?
“I’m very close with her little sister who is also studying at Glasgow Caledonian University. Kirsty got involved in doing a bit of coaching with the Uni’s football team that both of us are involved in. From there, I basically asked if there was anything we could do to help raise awareness around the issues with ACLs and help use her platform to do some sort of workshop.
“Kirsty’s had the injury and knows exactly what all the other girls have gone through. She agreed to do it and it started from there.
“We spoke to someone at the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) who gave really good advice. From there we just built the idea more and it ended up becoming this event at Ibrox in November.”
What was the overall purpose of the event?
“I would say it was about reassurance and offering education. We wanted to show these girls that they aren’t alone in their struggles with these injuries and remind them there are other people going through the same emotional and mental pain.
“Kirsty had obviously gone through the whole process when she was injured and was able to answer questions around things like surgery and recovery.
“There was probably around 40 people from different levels of football across Scotland there, which was more than I expected. The player age range was from 14-27, so we had a diverse group there in attendance.
“Kirsty and I had parents coming up at the end thanking us because it answered a lot of their questions, as well as their daughter’s.”
Would you like to do more work around the mental side of football in future?
“I would say I actually already do it daily in my role as a coach. It’s not just about football, it’s about the development of young girls into young adolescents. It’s important that we have the opportunity to teach them life lessons that they might not learn in school.”
How do you manage to combine all of this with a degree?
“Passion and determination. I’ve got an ambition and a drive because I could easily just leave all of this. I live by myself, I’m doing my degree, I work part-time in the Co-op, but you always find a way for the things you love.
“Football, for me, is a way to express myself. People have drawing, people have singing – for me it’s football. It’s more than that though, it’s about improving the lives of young girls and making a stamp on the female game in Scotland.”
You can watch a BBC ALBA interview with Rachel here
By Ross Clark
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter