Dalbeattie Star’s girls team is getting ready for the trip of a lifetime.
More than 20 youngsters will be heading to Spain in June to compete in the Barcelona Girls Cup in Salou – if they can raise £12,500.
More than 60 teams from 10 different countries will be taking part in the tournament, with Dalbeattie set to be the only one from Scotland.
Club coach Danielle Houston said: “I do both the girls and ladies teams so I’m quite involved in football. I’m on a lot of youth pages on Facebook and I spotted a tournament for boys – I thought it would be absolutely wicked to take our girls abroad.
“It’s something different. A lot of my girls are young but are now saying they want to be professional footballers.
“It will be an absolutely fantastic experience. They’ll be playing against teams from abroad that will have had a better standard of coaching and had a lot more financial support than probably any team in this area.”
The girls team was only formed last year but Danielle is hoping to take 21 girls, aged between 10 and 13, on the trip, as well as one of the players from the ladies team as a coach.
They need to raise £12,500 to fund the trip and have got off to a flying start with £2,400 in the coffers in just three weeks.
That includes more than £1,000 from running the Jas P Wilson pop-up shop over the weekend and donations from local firms.
Next month players Freya Macintosh and Halle Hart will be doing a Dumfries and Galloway Three Peaks Challenge, climbing Lotus, Criffel and Screel in one day before taking on Bengairn.
There are plans for other fundraisers, although a five-a-side Frankie Styles Tournament has had to be postponed as it clashed with the team’s first ever league game.
Danielle added: “People have been fantastic and really supportive.
“My daughter and a few others go to gymnastics and the coach donated £200.
“We’re also going to have coffee mornings and the parents have been fantastic. We’re just waiting on getting dates.
“The girls are writing letters to community organisations asking for support .”
Anyone who would like to donate can do so at https://www.gofundme.com/f/dalbeattie-star-girls-do-barcelona or the “Dalbeattie Star Girls Do Barcelona” on Facebook.
