Last weekend, Leeds United Women's duo Alice Hughes and Monique Watson made a surprise visit at The Hunslet Club's end of season Girls' Gala.
Based in South Leeds, The Hunslet Club has been helping young people achieve their potential for over 80 years, welcoming over 4,000 members and approximately 84,000 annual visits to what is one of the country's largest youth organisations.
The Leeds United Foundation has a long-standing relationship with The Hunslet Club, helping provide pathways for talented footballers via connections to scouting and development programmes utilising the newly installed artificial pitches.
On Saturday, The Hunslet Club hosted numerous girls' teams from across the Leeds area, facilitating a tournament-style competition whilst celebrating each club's individual success throughout the season, as well as highlighting their new Sports Village Kitchen.
Dropping in on the session were Alice and Monique, who arrived to the awe of many of the girls. Immediately taking to their duties by taking photos and signing autographs, the midfield duo took to the pitches to get involved with penalty shootouts and other challenges.
Speaking to the Football Foundation staff at the gala, Alice commented: "The standard, I'm really, really impressed by it! There are so many girls here and it's so good to see so many girls out and playing."
"The investment is really important," Monique added. "It allows players to come down to the pitch and find a home where they can play football. Most of the time they're out kicking a ball on a pitch that is a bit run down, so this investment in the new pitches is fantastic.
"The amount of girls that have been down here today as well it's been incredible. When we were younger we had t play with the boys because there wasn't anything like this so it's really good to see."
Alice continued: "It's about getting involved with the community around it because it really draws out more people and gets them more involved. I think we have seen a lot of investment in women's football from the top down - I think it's really good to see it happening from the bottom up."
