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Football In The Community by Stuart Smith, Luton Town's FitC Officer During the 2006 / 2007 Season Trust in Luton entered into an agreement to sponsor the Luton Town Football in the Community Girls Academy. Such was the success of the programme throughout the season the Football Association invited Luton Town FITC to host the Bedfordshire Girls Centre of Excellence. Bedfordshire had been selected via a National Mapping exercise by the FA as a necessary recipient of a COE licence due to the quality of the football played and the quality of the development programme delivered by Luton Town FITC.
Thanks to the ongoing sponsorship of Trust in Luton linked to the funding provided by FA Luton Town FITC were able to accept the invitation to host the Bedfordshire Girls Centre of Excellence.
In the paragraphs to follow I outline the demanding structure needed to host a Girls Centre of Excellence and a little about how the programme came about.
The Girls Centre of Excellence is a component of the National FA initiative that was launched in 1997 introducing its Talent Development Plan for Women's Football, as part of The FA's Charter for Quality, to provide a sound structure for the development of elite talent. An integral part of this plan is the establishment and development of for girls aged 10 to 16.
The purpose of the Centres is to identify players of outstanding ability and place them in a technical and educational programme designed to produce excellence in conjunction with personal development.
The criteria for becoming a Centre of Excellence are as follows:
• A Centre Director will be appointed to oversee the programme of coaching and education.
• The Centre Director will hold The FA Advanced / 'A' Licence.
• The Centre Director must be present at all times (if this is not possible a deputy must be identified as a replacement).
• All lead coaches will have the minimum of The UEFA ‘B’ Coaching Qualification.
• All staff will be suitably screened and registered by The Football Association.
• All staff will be committed to a minimum of 18 hours continuing professional development per year through specific in-service training provided by The Football Association.
• All staff to maintain a personal portfolio of their personal Continuing Professional Development Plans.
• The coach / pupil ration will be 1: 15.
It is the responsibility of the centres of excellence to provide safe and adequate facilities.
The facilities must include the following:
Outdoor coaching areas 60 x 40 yards
Changing rooms / shower
Separate medical room
Either: floodlit outdoor area (minimum 50 x 30 yards) or indoor sports hall (minimum 50 x 30 yards)
Operational Requirements
Centres of Excellence will operate for the following age groups:
U10 (within 2 year age banding)
U12 (within 2 year age banding)
U14 (within 2 year age banding)
U16 (within 2 year age banding)
Registered players must receive a minimum of 1 ½ hours coaching a week.
Players are not permitted to travel for more than 1 ½ hours from their place of residence to the Centre.
A Centre must operate for a minimum of 20 weeks per year.
The Football Association will provide an outline of the required learning programme and provide the necessary support service to assist clubs in the delivery of their programme.
Fixtures
To enhance the player's development, a programme of fixtures should be seen as an integral part of the child’s development.
Any player registered at a Centre of Excellence must be registered with a team.
Each player will participate in a minimum of 10 and a maximum of 40 games per year (including school, club, Centre of Excellence, Representative and International matches).
Conduct
All staff, parents and players will commit themselves to and promote the Code of Conduct, as determined by the Football Association.
Our club has met all these standards and are able to offer girls football of the very highest standard, where they can develop, make mistakes and enjoy their football without the pressure from managers and coaches of having to win games of football.
This year in our first season as a part time club the girls will play 8 fixtures against clubs from the Eastern region such as Norwich and Ipswich while also playing for their clubs.
Next season when all being well when we are in possession of a Full Time Licence the girls will be given the opportunity to play for the Centre of Excellence full time and participate in a 24 game fixture list.
From this environment the Girls also have the opportunity to be seen by Scouts for the National teams. A new process has now been put in place for selection at National Level. The F.A. rightly has decided that the gap between Club Football and International is too vast and therefore they will not watch players in local clubs. Now for a girl to be considered for International recognition she must be playing in a Professional Club Centre of Excellence. Even then the gap is immense so a mechanism has been put in place to help bridge the gap between COE and National level. The FA has now set a number of Regional Coaching camps where girls can go and be coached by the Centre of Excellence Directors and F.A staff. England scouts are present at these events and any girl showing the necessary ability or promise are added to the National scouting database and are then watched within their COE environment.
Recently 4 of our Under 14 squad and 4 of our Under 16 squad were selected to go on the first regional camp in Cambridge. The girls performed admirably, were a credit to the club and learnt much from the experience.
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