As the year draws to a close it’s time to celebrate the festive season with the whole club getting together for our third annual Christmas Party. With well over 100 of our girls attending, Air Space was filled with the sound of happy Starlets as they took over the trampoline park to show off their bouncing skills.

Fundraising has always been a core part of Stevenage Starlets right from the start. Each season through a vote at our AGM we select a cause for the club to support. This year youth mental health charity YoungMinds was the overwhelming choice and becomes our chosen charity for 2019/20.

A group of young Starlets got the chance to meet some World Cup stars as they helped Arsenal Women kick off their 2019/20 campaign. As a sister club to reigning WSL champions, our girls get the chance to take part in a Matchday experience, and we were delighted to have the honour to be part of their first game of the season

Our annual presentation day not only marks the end of Stevenage Starlets second season as a club. After such an incredible first season it would have been hard to imagine how things could go better, but somehow this one seems to have been just as remarkable.

For the last year we have been raising funds for Willow Foundation, our club’s chosen charity for the 2018/19 season. This weekend many young Starlets players, parents and volunteers took part in a sponsored walk across Stevenage in a last big push for donations before the season ends.

Our run of awards success continued at the Comet Sports Awards last night. After picking up the trophy last year we were incredibly proud to find ourselves on the shortlist for ‘Club of the Year’ once again. Not that we’ve been resting on our laurels of course, with Stevenage Starlets FC having grown even more rapidly in our second year than in our first.

We were excited to be back at the HSP Awards for what is always a fantastic celebration of the individuals, projects and clubs that make up the sport and physical activity landscape of our county. In such inspiring company we were extremely proud to even have been nominated, so it was a huge moment for us to come away from the evening with three trophies.

We are pleased to announce that Stevenage Starlets FC have become a member of the Arsenal Women Sister Club Programme, helping us to grow Women and Girls’ football. Arsenal Women deliver the biggest Sister Club Programme in England and will be looking to support grassroots clubs recruit more girls to play football, make friends and have fun.

In the perfect end to an incredible first season, Stevenage Starlets FC enjoyed a double celebration at the Hertfordshire FA Grassroots Football Awards last night, picking up both Young Volunteer of the Year and Charter Standard Club of the Year. These awards recognise and celebrate the work of those making a positive difference in grassroots football.

As our first full season as a club draws to a close it was time to get everyone in the Starlets football family together to recognise the achievements of all involved in what has been an incredible year. Add in some beautiful summer sunshine and a win for England in the World Cup and you have pretty much the perfect day!

It’s been a busy couple of months since the end of the league season, with plenty of summer tournaments to keep the girls playing. Indeed for those of our teams that only started playing regularly in January, it’s been a great way to continue their development with lots of opportunity to get valuable match experience.