SFA initiative gives the best players reason to stay home

Published on Saturday 27 September 2008 20:05

WOMEN'S FOOTBALL in Scotland is taking a massive stride forward by offering the elite performers the chance to train as semi-professionals. With the national side hoping to beat Slovakia in the vital Euro qualifying match at McDiarmid Park this afternoon to clinch a play-off place and ultimately qualify for their first major championships, foundations are already being laid to ensure there will be an even greater pool of talented players in the near future.

The SFA, in partnership with Edinburgh University, Heriot Watt University and Telford College is launching a Regional Academy for women footballers and while the South East academy is the pilot project, with 11 players from the regional and national squad already signed up, it is hoped it will be followed by five further regional bases and a national academy.

The purpose is to stop the talent drain to USA and England and bolster the depth of quality in the women's game in Scotland.

"This allows our most talented players to combine playing and training with their on-going education," said Sheila Begbie of the SFA. "The players will be able to receive bursaries and scholarships to help with travel costs, while they will also have access to sports science, physio, sports psychology, and will be able to train on a daily basis.

"The courses will also be flexible, and they will have mentors to help them catch up on work they miss while on international duty and be able to participate in e-learning, which means they complete their studies while still hopefully fulfilling their football potential."

The scheme has been put in place in a bid to help Scotland compete with the increasing number of nations starting up professional women's leagues and while it is still a long way short of that ideal, it is a massive leap in the right direction, according to current international Shelley Kerr, who will co-ordinating the project.

"It is the next best thing to having professional players. As well as having access to a number of fields of expertise, such as strength and conditioning, sports psychology, nutritional and lifestyle advice etc, it will allow the girls to train on a daily basis. Sometimes that may be on a one to one basis, sometimes in groups but I would envisage the girls will be training four times a week with the academy and probably four times a week with the clubs. On top of that will be the gym work and strength and conditioning.

"For those girls, it can only enhance their chances of getting into the national team and the national team's chances of competing at the highest level in the future."

Although staggering the launch of the various academies, Kerr says she has no doubt the pilot scheme will prove successful and that others will follow.

"That will mean around 60 elite players training on a daily basis and having access to the best advice and support they need to make it in the game. It means girls no longer need to look to scholarships abroad and we can keep our best talent here."

Kerr says it is a mark of how much the women's game has grown and progressed over the past couple of decades but says the momentum must be maintained.

"People are realising what is needed to take the women's game on in this country. When I started out clubs trained a maximum of twice a week, anything else we had to do on our own. I know the sacrifices which have to be made if you want to be an elite sportsperson and this makes it a little bit easier for the next generation."

The academy players all need to be members of the SFA regional age-group squads or part of the national set-up. They also need to have the necessary qualifications to get on to their chosen course at Edinburgh University, Heriot Watt University or Telford College. Two of the initial intake include Scotland and Spartans goalkeeper Jo Hutchison and her in-Scotland colleague Frankie Brown, of Hibernian LFC.

"This is going to help their development as players and even those players who are not part of the academy can benefit from the examples they set and the good practices they learn as part of the academy set-up."

Scotland are currently third in Group 5, and could become the first Scotland Women's A squad to reach the play-offs of a major tournament, the UEFA Women's Euro, Finland 2009, if they defeat fourth-placed Slovakia this afternoon.