Women's High Performance Centre
Last year the Football Association unveiled plans for eight FA Women’s High Performance Football Centres based at Universities across the country.
The FA’s ambition for the centres is to increase the number of qualified coaches and the quality of coaching, both central to the growth of the women’s game.
The centres will provide an educational and community-based setting to produce quality coaches, who in turn can inspire player development.
Establishing close links with FA WSL 1 and WSL 2 clubs, the centres will also provide these talented players with a pathway to the elite levels supported by expert coaching, sports science and medicine.
In addition, The FA Women’s High Performance Football Centres will create the next generation of the game’s behind-the-scenes workforce, whether as volunteers, administrators or development staff.
The announcement follows The FA’s ‘Gameplan for Growth’ strategy which was unveiled earlier in the year. The strategy outlined The FA’s commitment to double participation and the number of fans in the women’s game by 2020, whilst creating a sustainable and successful high performance system to help England teams at every age group compete with distinction on the world stage.
The following eight universities have been selected based on a scoring criteria focusing on six key areas including coach development, collaboration and readiness to deliver:
• University of Birmingham
• University of Chichester
• University of Gloucester
• Manchester consortia – Manchester Metropolitan University & University of Manchester
• Northumbria University
• Nottingham consortia - University of Nottingham & Nottingham Trent University
• Sheffield Hallam University
• St Mary’s University
Baroness Sue Campbell, The FA’s Head of Women’s Football said: “The establishment of these centres is a further proof point of The FA’s commitment to transform the future of women’s football in England. They will ensure aspiring coaches and talented players in all parts of the country have access to the best training and support possible, providing us with the greatest opportunity for success at all levels of international football.”
By registering you will receive information on workshops and other coach development activities that are specific to the female game. The workshop content as well as tutor experience will encourage coaches to recognise and understand any potential differences that might occur working with female players in the national game.
All coaches or prospective coaches (female and male) working in the women’s and girls’ game across the East Midlands can attend workshops and access the programmes on offer. This could be parents, students and others ready to take their first steps on their coaching journey through to coaches wanting to progress through FA and UEFA qualifications in the junior and senior game and across grassroots and the talent pathway.
In Nottingham and the East Midlands we are trying to improve the quality of coaching so we can have better players as well increasing the number of coaches to support new teams and players entering the game. The WHPFC works in partnership with the Nottingham Trent University and University of Nottingham as well as Nottingham College and the County FA’s to raise the profile of the female game and support the talent pathway. We are hosting FAWSL Academy Fixtures locally as well as providing support services such as strength & conditioning to players within the talent pathway. We hope that as the WHPFC evolves it will also support research in the female game to inform future best practice.
We want to foster a culture of personal and professional development, where coaches attend workshops and training to improve their practice rather than just ticking a box. Therefore only some WHPFC events will be LCC accredited – it will be made clear via the promotional material for each workshop or event as to whether it will be LCC accredited and for which level of qualification.
Coaches can join the HIVE Learning group – this community page hosts information on workshops, research, articles, resources, and session content as well as news articles. To join the group or for more information on any of the WHPFC activities please contact Jenny Sugarman, coach Development Officer on 07827808076 or email jenny.sugarman@ntu.ac.uk