Women's national team head coach, Harry Smith, reflects on a positive start to 2025 for EAFA’s national teams

Writes: Evan Halliday

On January 11 both the men’s and women’s national teams came together at the Home of Amputee Football for the first EAFA training weekend of 2025.

Harry Smith, head coach of the women’s team, believes it was a successful weekend and the two teams supporting each other and working together would be valuable for everyone involved in the EAFA family.

Smith said: “it was a really positive camp, it was really nice to have the men’s and women’s programmes training on the same weekend, this gave a really good opportunity for players and staff to integrate together which was fantastic to see.

“The lads really supported the Lionesses and it’s great for them to be around that environment as it’s a very exciting time for both teams.”

Unfortunately, the weather was not permitting of a usual training camp for anyone. The star man at the facilities had been Jack Frost, the cold and icy weather forced the teams off the pitch and indoors for the remainder of the weekend.

“The weather issues were interesting, I think everyone was looking forward to getting out on the pitch but we managed being inside really well,” said Harry Smith.

“We focused on strength and conditioning and played some engaging games with the ball as well which meant the players got a lot out of the weekend,” Smith added.

The team's making the most of the indoor facilities - Photo Cred @threelinesphotography

A good start to the new year despite the weather but what is the women’s head coach most looking forward to in 2025.

“Of course, I’m looking forward to continuing to build our women’s programme and seeing where we can progress to in the future.

“Women’s sport is really trending upwards and I’m really looking forward to continuing the growth of the programme and challenging the girls further,” Harry said.