Rachel Pavlou visits Management School as FIMBA guest speaker

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Rachel Pavlou, National Participation Manager for Women’s Football at the English FA, visited the Management School as the latest guest speaker for the FIMBA cohort.

Rachel started by telling students about her background in football and how she was stopped from playing at a young age due to her gender.  She then went on to work as a Sports Development Officer at Solihull FE College where she completed an FA female only prelim coaching course with Birmingham Football Development Scheme.  She also volunteered in the community, helping out at soccer camps. 

Since then Rachel has worked for the FA where she is responsible for developing women’s football.  She has been involved in securing external funding, developing the women’s super league and increasing the age limit for mixed football. 

After talking about her background, Rachel gave students an overview of the history of women’s football and also outlined her top 10 tips for developing a strategy for women’s football. 

The talk was very informative and gave students an insight into developing participation opportunities and overcoming social barriers in football.  There was also an opportunity for questions at the end which further explored the themes discussed throughout the talk.