AFC Portchester girls teams aiming to raise £1,000 for NHS charities by running over 500 miles

Chris Webb with Izzy Martin and the food she bought to help Gosport Borough's 'Feed A Family In Need' project

The AFC Portchester under-11 Castles and Saxons squads are aiming to break the £1,000 barrier - and are well on the way to doing so.

The idea was the brainchild of Ashlee Pratt, daughter of under-11 Castles manager Sarah and coach Gary.

Gary, a familiar figure in local football circles due to his work at the Hampshire FA, said: ‘The girls are running 530 miles between them.

AFC Portchester's under-11 Castles and Saxons squads who are aiming to raise £1,000 for NHS charities

‘That’s the distance of all our away matches last season - the ones that were played and the ones that weren’t.

‘They don’t play in a Portsmouth League, they play in the Hampshire Girls League. That meant we made three trips to Basingstoke, two to Winchester and one to Sway in the New Forest.’

The team’s closest game was a 12-mile round trip to Stubbington, but the furthest was a 94-mile journey to Chineham and back.

The journey to Hatch Warren Phoenix was 91 miles there and back.

Those are long treks just for a game of junior football.

‘We worked out it’s about 18 miles per person, but we’ve told the girls to see if they can run a mile every day for 26 days.’ said Pratt.

‘They started a week ago. There’s 28 girls across the two teams, and they each go out running with a parent.’

Pratt has been out running with Ashlee around the streets of Waterlooville, where they live.

‘I’m shattered!’ he quipped. ‘Anyone who knows me knows I’m not the smallest person - I was 21 stone at one point last year.

‘The girls have been fantastic so far, and the idea has come from them. It’s keeping them fit and raising money for the NHS - a few of the players have mums who are frontline workers.’

As of today, the girls have already raised £730.

The Castles squad have been together for three years, with the Saxons only formed last summer after an influx of new players.

They spent the 2019/20 season playing friendlies, but will be joining the Hampshire Girls League next term.

Meanwhile, another young girl who is doing her bit to help during lockdown is Izzy Martin.

The seven-year-old was keen to help the Gosport Borough FC ‘Feed A Family’ fundraiser.

Izzy, who plays for the Gosport development squad, sold some books outside the front of her house and decided she wanted to spend the money she made on food for the families in need project.

Her mum and dad, Sam and Vince, topped up the money for her shop and Borough youth coach Chris Webb went along to pick up all the goods Izzt had purchased.

Gosport had been aiming to make £6,000 via their Crowdfunding page, and as of this morning were only £106 off it.

But, as reported in The News earlier in the week, Borough’s youth teams have also raised £745 between them which has yet to be added to the fund.