Throughout International Women’s Month, we’re highlighting the amazing work our staff do within the Community department at Arsenal. Today we hear from Abby Webster, who speaks about her role at Arsenal, who has inspired her and how she coached her team to win a tournament at Tottenham.
What is your job and what does it entail?
I am a casual community sessional worker within the Premier League Kicks programme, and I work within the women’s and girls’ development sessions too. I work around many venues across north London, including The Arsenal Hub, schools and local estates.
What do you love most about your job?
The thing I love most is working with participants of all different ages, boys and girls. I’m also grateful to work in a team full of amazingly talented coaches at different sessions across the community each week.
Tell us about your journey to your current role?
Funnily enough, I was actually a participant myself and started playing for Arsenal in the Community girls’ team at the age of 14. I then found out about the two-year NCFE education course, which I applied for as I was getting ready to leave secondary school.
I was offered a place on the course, which I thoroughly enjoyed. It provided us with the knowledge, skills and understanding required for people who want to get into the sports industry. Then, once I finished that, I was offered the role that I currently do now in the community. So it’s all come full circle from a participant to now coaching young girls who were like me.
Where do you want to be in five years?
My goal at the moment is to continue my work within women’s and girls’ projects, developing and coaching girls. Hopefully I’ll also be able to lead and manage the project one day.
Have you always wanted to work in sport?
Yes. I’ve always been very passionate about football from a young age but also love other sports too.
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is “Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress”. What does this mean to you?
To me, it means for women’s work and contributions to be recognised on a large scale, as well as inspiring the next generation of younger girls to follow their goals and achieve their dreams.
Why is International Women’s Month important to you?
It’s important to me because when I was a young girl, I was always told that football is just a “boys’ sport” and that women’s football would never take off and be popular. As the years have gone by, it’s amazing to see women’s football take off as well as there being more emphasis on women’s sports in the general media, which is great to see. More needs to be done but we’re making big progress.
Who has inspired you?
I’d have to say my mother – she has inspired me all the way throughout my life. She has always encouraged me to go for my dreams and has told me that nothing should ever be out of reach if you want it enough.
What’s your favorite sporting memory?
My favorite memory would be taking the Under-11s girls who I coach weekly to a tournament in Tottenham, and they actually won the trophy, with them receiving medals and a trophy.
How amazing is it to see Arsenal Women sell out 60,000 the Emirates Stadium two games in a row?
It’s absolutely fantastic to see that so many people recognise how great women’s football is, and their impact is inspiring other young girls to want to watch and play for their local teams.
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