They shoot, they score! World Cup inspires aspiring football stars at Renfrewshire summer camps

With the Women’s World Cup well under-way, hundreds of kids from across Renfrewshire and beyond have been tackling football summer camps, shooting through the summer holidays and scoring a massive win for improved skills and physical activity.

OneRen’s hugely popular summer camps have provided low-cost opportunities for hundreds of children to enjoy a range of activities which keep children active over the summer break.

The football summer camp, based at Park Mains High School in Erskine, regularly plays host to more than 70 kids each day, supported by OneRen’s Active Schools team and professional football coaches.

Millie, 12, from Paisley, said: “It’s great to be here and playing football. With the Women’s World Cup, football is much more popular with girls. It’s great fun and you meet lots of new people.”

Coach, Taylor Burns, said: “The camps are just as much for girls as they are for boys. The woman’s game has become massively popular and it means more girls and taking up football. With the World Cup coming up that’s only going to increase.”

Fellow coach, Cameron Breadner, added: “Everyone wants to be a striker, but what we concentrate on here are improving fitness and core skills and allowing the kids to really come together and enjoy themselves as one team.”

Matthew, 10, from Erskine, said: “I really enjoy meeting new friends and it’s great to be playing football during the holidays."

While Liam, from Clydebank, showed off his keepie uppie skills before discussing the camps. Luke, who plays with St Mirren is obsessed by football and wants to be a professional one day, with his heroes at Celtic. He said: “I really like working on my skills and the coaches are really good. When we play we’re always competitive, that’s just the way it is, but we’re all friends at the end of the day.”

Victoria Collins, OneRen’s Active Schools Co-ordinator, said: “There’s a huge amount of work that goes into organising the camps and we work hard to bring together excellent coaches and opportunities for the kids to enjoy the sessions and get more physically active.

“The kids love it and they all go home smiling – that’s the best part and I’m sure it’s something that parents and carers really appreciate too. It’s so much better than staying inside during the summer. Even if the weather’s not great, we can do sessions indoors if we need to.”