NZ Football pushing new initiatives as World Cup fever rolls on

NZ Football is pushing new initiatives aimed at keeping young girls in the game as the FIFA Women's World Cup continues to make headlines.

The organisation hopes to drive the women's game forward by partnering with a Kiwi-made app and launching programmes aimed at female players.

"We have partnered with CoachMate, which is about giving volunteers confidence to be able to go out and put on fun and engaging skill development sessions for young girls in our programmes," NZ Football's Andy Boyens told Seven Sharp.

"We have 7000 users on the platform in about three months which is a huge number of volunteers and parents who may have never ever coached before, but now they have something in their pocket which can really help them."

The app, which is free to download, provides volunteer football, basketball and golf coaches with bite-size videos and personalised training programmes that can be accessed on-the-go.

CoachMate co-founder Michelle Walshe says coaches can learn an activity in under 90 seconds, plan practices fast and upskill at their own pace.

Boyens hopes buzz created by the FIFA Women's World Cup will help drive more girls to the sport.

"About 22% of our playing population is female at the moment, we’re hoping the World Cup is going to really increase that and we have just launched a programme called Fantails with 48 hubs across the country where young girls can experience football in a safe environment," he said.

"It's all about enjoyment, so if coaches can create that kind of environment kids will stay in it for longer."

He also pointed out the different needs of boys and girls when it comes to the way being engaged at training is approached.

"Relationships are a really big thing with young girls, so if they can come in and you give them a little bit of space to talk about their day maybe just before training," he said.

"When my son arrives at football practice the first thing he wants to see is the ball in the goal when my daughter arrives at football training the first thing she wants to see is her friends."

For ex-Football-Fern Rebecca Sowden it wasn't always easy to stay in the game.

"I can remember it vividly (starting out), I needed as a girl that confidence build up and encouraged to kind of dribble and have a shot where as boys already have that existing confidence."

She believes having more girls stick it out in sports can only be a positive thing.

"So they do better at school, they do better in their careers, they get social skills for their mental well-being. So when girls stay in sport we all win as a society."

For more on this story watch Seven Sharp's report in the video above.