The Five Things That Keep Girls Playing
Coaches Corner
The five things that keep
girls playing.
Not fitness. Not tactics. Not talent. The things that decide whether a girl comes back next week — or quietly stops turning up.
CHGConnect measures five areas. They weren't chosen at random. They're the areas that research and experience tell us matter most to whether girls stay in sport — or walk away from it.
Here's what each one really means — and why a low score in any of them is worth noticing.
Does she actually enjoy being there?
Not "did she have fun." Something deeper than that.
Enjoyment isn't about whether the session was entertaining. It's about whether she felt like she was part of it. A girl can laugh with her mates on the sideline and still not enjoy training — because she spent half of it standing and watching while someone else did the drill.
When enjoyment drops, it doesn't show up as a complaint. It shows up as a slow fade. She stops arriving early. She's less bothered about missing a week. Then two weeks. Then she's gone — and nobody noticed because she never said a word.
The moment to notice
A girl who's not enjoying it won't tell you. She'll just stop coming. By the time you notice, she's already made the decision.
Does she feel like she's part of this team?
Not on the team. Part of it.
Belonging is the difference between being on a squad list and feeling like you matter to the group. A girl can turn up to every session, wear the kit, play every match — and still feel like she's on the outside.
It's the girl who's always last picked. The one nobody passes to. The one whose name doesn't get shouted from the sideline. She belongs on paper. But she doesn't feel it — and that feeling is what decides whether she stays.
The moment to notice
She's there every week. But she arrives alone, stands at the edge, and leaves without talking to anyone. Being present isn't the same as belonging.
Does she feel like she's getting better?
Not whether she IS improving. Whether she feels it.
This one catches coaches out. You might be running brilliant sessions. She might be improving. But if all the coaching attention goes to one position, or the drill only develops the striker, the girl at the other end of the pitch doesn't feel like she's growing — because nothing about the session felt like it was designed for her.
Development isn't just about skills. It's about whether she believes the coaching is for her too. If she thinks it's only for the best players, she stops trying — not because she can't, but because she doesn't think it's worth it.
The moment to notice
She does the drill. She doesn't resist. But she doesn't stretch either. She's going through the motions because she doesn't think the session is about her development — it's about someone else's.
Does she feel like she can be heard?
Not whether she speaks up. Whether she feels safe to.
Voice is the hardest one to spot because the girls who lack it are the ones you don't hear from. They're not the troublemakers, they're not the quiet rebels — they're the ones who have an opinion but have learned it's easier not to share it.
A low Voice score doesn't mean your team is afraid of you. It means some of your players have decided — probably without even realising it — that their input doesn't count. And once a girl believes that in sport, she starts believing it everywhere else too.
The moment to notice
You ask the team "where do you want to play?" and the same three girls answer every time. The quiet ones aren't being silent — they've just stopped expecting to be heard.
Does she feel okay getting it wrong?
Not self-esteem. Something more specific than that.
Confidence in CHGConnect isn't "does she believe in herself." It's narrower and more useful than that: does she feel safe enough to try something she might fail at?
Three of the five Confidence questions are about the fear of making mistakes. That's deliberate. Because the girl who stops shooting because she missed last time, the one who won't try a new skill because she doesn't want to look stupid — she's not lacking talent. She's lacking permission to fail. And the first voice she hears after a mistake decides whether she tries again.
The moment to notice
She used to shoot from anywhere. Now she passes it off every time. Nothing changed about her ability. Something changed about how she feels when she gets it wrong.
Your next step
Recognition is where this starts to click. When you name what a player brought — not just the goals, but the effort, the attitude, the moment she helped a teammate — you're reaching the players you don't always get to speak to. That connection builds week by week.
Then comes the feedback. The questions you'll ask your squad through Your Voice Matters have been designed around these five areas — not to test your coaching, but to show you the things you can't be expected to see. No matter how good your sessions are, if a player isn't feeling it in one of these areas, you're working uphill without knowing why.
That's why these are our focus. Not the drills — that's your speciality. The packaging around the session. The blind spots that no coach can cover on their own.
Start with recognition. Build from there.
Not set up yet? Head to Create My Squad on your dashboard — it takes under 10 minutes.
Already set up? Go to Session Review and give your first round of recognition.
The How to use CHGConnect guide on your dashboard will walk you through everything you need.
When you've got more time
These five areas are what CHGConnect tracks for your squad — together we will make a difference to girls in sport
Open CHGConnect