Lauren Heria x Just Football: Equal Kicks Challenges

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with Equal Kicks and launch our first female challenge section in the app presented by London Bees Vice Captain, Lauren Heria. We teamed up with Lauren to create 6 new challenges, showing our users how to improve their skills and take their game to the next level.

As a youth player, Lauren spent time at the Charlton Athletic Centre of Excellence and Kent County Schools Football squad and recently starred in the BT Sport show Ultimate Goal, a six-part televised women’s football academy. Lauren creates educational football content on social media that teaches players skills and she also shares her experiences of playing female football.

Equal Kicks

Equal Kicks is a sport consultancy specialising in women’s football founded by London Bees vice-captain Lauren Heria. Their goal is to raise awareness in women’s sport and help brands, influencers, and clubs navigate the female football space. All profits are re-invested into positive initiatives to help women and girls have the support they need to enjoy and excel in sport.

Lauren says ‘Being a female in football is incredibly challenging. It can often feel that you are second best to male players simply because of your gender and the sport is often underfunded’.

Like so many female players, Lauren experienced her team being cut at short notice as a club cost-saving measure, online abuse based on her identity as a female footballer and encountered a lack of resourcing and support for her as an athlete. All these experiences encouraged Lauren to return to study a master’s in Sports Business and Innovation at Loughborough University, and from this, the idea of Equal Kicks was born.

Lauren said ‘I have always believed that accessible and educational content that allows a footballer to simply learn something new and have fun whilst keeping active is so important.

Just Football app ticks so many boxes for me as an athlete and influencer. The values of Just Football, to be an inclusive app that represents, celebrates, and caters for, a diverse range of footballers, aligns with the mission of Equal Kicks.

I am incredibly pleased to showcase Equal Kicks on the platform and I believe this is the beginning of an exciting and long-lasting partnership’

The Challenges

Lauren presents 6 fun challenges that will improve your skills and control on the pitch.

Wall One-touch: Use a wall or fence to practice your one-touch. How many can you do?
Target practice: Set up targets and hit them with the ball as many as you can in 1 minute
CR7: Replicate Cristiano Ronaldo to control the ball in the air with 7 different parts of your body
Basketball Kick Shot: Score a basket with your feet! Can you do it with your back to the net?
Moving Kick Ups: Perform kicks ups while moving with the ball. How far you can go without dropping the ball?
Trick Shot Challenge: Show us your creative flair with your own trick shots like flicking a ball into a bag or anything else.