Shrewsbury Town Girl's Centre of Excellence

The FA Midlands “Centres of Excellence” League kicked off on Saturday 17th September, offering the Midlands brightest and most talented girls the chance to compete against other players of similar ability.

Centres of Excellence have been running for a number of years now, yet this is its first season being in a weekly fixture programme against other Centre of Excellence Squads. So what exactly is it all about? Here’s a bit of an insight, from Eve Bailey, Girls & Women’s Officer & STFC Centre Co-ordinator.

What is the purpose of Centre of Excellence?

The purpose of the Centre is to identify players of outstanding ability and place them in a technical and educational programme designed to produce excellence in their football that goes hand in hand with their personal development. The girls undertake a structured coaching programme which is suited to their age, size and ability, through weekly coaching and fixtures provided by FA qualified staff.

How are players selected to attend the Centre of Excellence?

Players are selected though open trials at the beginning of the season and then during the season via recommendations through Junior League clubs, schools and scouting.

What can happen afterwards for the girls attending a Centre of Excellence?

Centre of Excellences are an integral part of the FA’s player development structure and talent identification system. Local Centres, which are attached to professional clubs for administration and recognition feed into the three England development squads at under 15, under 17 and under 19.
These national development squads take the most talented players from Centres of Excellences around the country to training camps, where they offer the very best support to young players. The camps run for 3-4 days and the girls take part in practical coaching sessions as well as receiving talks on nutrition, fitness and injury prevention & treatment.

England monitors the progress of all players through their local Centre of Excellence and it is hoped that some of these girls will then go on to represent their country at U19 and eventually senior level. Talented players can only be selected to play for their country through attending a Centre of Excellence.

The Midlands Centre of Excellence League – organised by the Central Warwickshire Youth League– is only the second of its kind in England, consisting of U12, U14 & U16 teams from 9 Girls’ Centres of Excellence. The teams in that league are Wolverhampton Wanderers, Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Stoke City, Kidderminster Harriers, Derby County, Leicester City and of course - Shrewsbury Town!

Under 10’s

The Under 10s will train for 1.5 hours every week over a 30 week programme and return to their club to play in weekly fixtures in the Shropshire Girls’ League. The Centre of Excellence does not run a competitive fixture programme for this age group, but as part of the Centre of Excellence programme this age group will play fixtures during school holidays. These will be organised by the Midlands League.