A group of Perth Glory Women have brought smiles to the faces of local students on a recent visit to Armadale Senior High School.

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Kate Gill, Shelina Zadorsky and Gabe Marzano attended the school on Wednesday to deliver a fun coaching session.

Glory players were invited to the school after students produced an entry for the 2014 Smarter Than Smoking Young Directors’ Festival, which included a football element.

The school was approached by Healthway to take part in the campaign, which involved putting together a 30-second advertisement highlighting the negative effects of smoking.

Glory also benefit from significant Healthway funding through the Smarter Than Smoking message.

Star gaze: Shelina Zadorsky, Gabe Marzano and Kate Gill address the students at Armadale Senior High School. Photo: Football West News

After working on the film for three terms the school marked the end of the festival by holding a Wellbeing Expo to celebrate the students’ achievements and showcase their work.

Gill, Zadorsky and Marzano conducted facilitated small-sided games with 25 special-needs students.

Your turn: Gabe Marzano teaching a student a trick or two. Photo: Football West News

Jenni Young, a teacher at the school, spoke of the importance of having Glory women at the school.

“Students with special needs need visuals as well as physical prompts,” she said. “For the message to become real they need to be able to experience it.

“Putting part of the film with the soccer and then having the girls come out here on the day of the celebration just helps in making that message a little bit deeper for them.”

Final whistle: The girls wrap up the session with a Q and A and signed posters. Photo: Football West News

Gill, who is currently the league’s top goal scorer, was truly moved by the experience.

“I’ve achieved some amazing things throughout my career, but in all honesty to be able to captivate and engage the attention of special needs students through football was extremely humbling,” Gill said.

“Their smiles and sheer enjoyment they illustrated was priceless.”

Gill, Zadorsky and Marzano are back to business on Sunday when they travel to WIN Stadium to take on Sydney FC in a match broadcast on ABC TV from 3pm (WA time).

footballwest.com.au