Girls Centre of Excellence
The session took place at The Cliff Training Ground on Monday 28th September. The Manchester United Under 10s, Under 12s, Under 14s, Under 16s and Under 18s picked up some coaching tips and advice from the professionals on how to make it at an International level.
The Manchester United Foundation Girls FA Centre of Excellence aims to provide opportunities for girls to play football at the highest standard against other clubs of a similar level, with the eventual view of developing them into international players. As part of the commitment Manchester United Foundation will provide the girls with three hours of intensive training per week along with games with other Centres of Excellence teams from the North West. Within the programme the girls have regular fitness tests and use online logbooks to record data on their diet, training and performance.
Foundation Girls Development Officer Emma Gaynon said: “We are thrilled to be awarded Centre of Excellence status and I am really excited to be able to offer the girls this opportunity. Our Girls teams were already at a really high standard and last season our Under 15s were the National and UK champions and our other teams were successful at all levels. The aim of the centre of excellence is to develop players for international football and we will get them to that standard. We already have one England International in the Centre and we hope that by the end of the season more players will be following in her footsteps.”
United’s U16 captain Lizzie Ince has recently signed for the Centre of Excellence. Lizzie was recently called up to the England Under-15s squad and invited to train at Bisham Abbey. She made her England debut as the team travelled to Germany to compete in a recent international friendly.
Eight of the girls from the Centre of Excellence were also put forward for the FA Regional Talent camp which will be held at Edge Hill University on 3rd October, where England scouts will be in attendance ready to spot those with real potential at an International level.
The FA has established 52 Centres of Excellence throughout England which are an integral part of The FA’s female player development pathway and the pinnacle from which our Youth International players are selected.
The ‘Philosophy’ of each Centre is to disseminate technical, tactical and theoretical information to each player stimulating the players learning. Every Centre considers the needs of each player and takes into account their developmental stage from a growth, development and maturation perspective and implements a programme to develop young players who have and can maximise their potential in the short but ultimately in the longer term.