Normanhurst Eagles Football Club Normo 3's APAPT program bigger and better than ever, highlighting the strength and growth in female football.

Normanhurst Eagles Football Club ran their 2nd annual ADAPT Normo3s event on February 5th 2022. The program is a 1-day, fun-filled, 3-a-side football festival for girls from U5 to U14.

Pennant Hills Oval was a show of colour with over 150 players competing in across 50 teams from local clubs Normanhurst Eagles FC, Pennant Hills FC and Roselea FC. 

“The success of Normo 3s format comes from the small, sided games giving players lots of opportunity to be on the ball” reflected Nick Deverell, event organiser and Normanhurst Eagles FC Mini’s and Junior Coordinator. 

“Short games and small pitches with no keepers mean lots of on-the-ball action for all players, and lots of goals get scored.”

Normo3s is aimed at promoting female football, so has a few different goals:

• Firstly, it is designed to get as many girls playing as possible. 3 is an easy number to get together to form a team, so it removes the ‘I don’t have anyone to play with’ barrier - or at least significantly lowers it.
  
• Three [players] also lends itself to one of the most common ‘mini-formations’ in football, the triangle. Short games, and small pitches with no keepers mean lots of on-the-ball action for all players, and lots of goals get scored. In short, it is really good fun, ‘free’ play that will help develop skills and 'match understanding'.
  
• Coaching is not permitted, so the girls get to express themselves on the pitch without worrying about what mum/dad/coach/etc may be thinking. It is about letting them play and really learn to connect with and love the game.” 
  

2022’s event numbers significantly increased from those of the programs launch in 2021, which organiser Nick credits to all the players telling their mates about their enjoyment with it, and so more girls want to join in. 

The club holds the event early in the pre-season and make it free for registered players to encourage registrations in time the season. Keep an eye on Normanhurst FC socials early in 2023 to join the 3rd year of fun!