Centre of Excellence

LATEST NEWS 

U17 Girls win National Youth Cup
On Sunday 12th May 2013, the U17 side beat Blackburn Rovers 3-1 in the final of the FA National Girls' Youth Cup. The game was played at the MK Stadium home of MK Dons. The win means the U17 side have won the League and Cup double.

Opportunities to Trial for 2013/14
The application process for 2013/14 is now closed.

Job Opportunities
We provide a range of football development opportunities for female players at our renowned Centre of Excellence.

Most coaching sessions take place after school and at evenings and weekends in the school term or during the day in school holidays.

We are always keen to receive applications from ambitious, enthusiastic and deeply committed football coaches who wish to join us.

We have the following job opportunities:

U17 Coach
We have an exciting opportunity for an Assistant Coach with our U17 squad. You must be qualified to Level 3 and must hold the FA Youth Awards at Module 1,2 and 3.

Cover Coaches
We are keen to receive applications from ambitious, enthusiastic and deeply committed football coaches who wish to work in our Centre of Excellence covering holidays and staff illness. As an Outfield Coach you must be qualified to Level 2 and all Outfield Coaches must hold the FA Youth Awards at Module 1 and Module 2 and ideally Module 3. As a Goalkeeping Coach you must hold the FA Goalkeeping Level 2 award and ideally hold the FA Youth Awards at Module 1 and ideally Module 2.

Physiotherapists
We currently have vacancies for Chartered Physiotherapists to work work flexibly and provide cover for staff absence as and when required. Our squads train on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings and play matches on Saturday mornings.

Please note, in accordance with our policy, if you are applying for a coaching position, you should be prepared to deliver a sample session for us using a group of our players.

If you wish to be considered for any vacancies that may arise, you can apply in one of two ways:

1. Forward your CV by email along with your reasons for wanting to work for us. Email your CV to: arsenalladies@arsenal.co.uk

2. Forward your CV by post along with your reasons for wanting to work for us. Post your CV to:

Coaching Opportunities
Arsenal Ladies FC
Media and Education Centre
Bell Lane
London Colney
St. Albans
Hertfordshire AL2 1DR

PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOUR APPLICATION DOES NOT RELATE TO A COACHING OR PHYSIOTHERAPIST POSITION IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

APPLICATIONS WILL NOT BE ACKNOWLEDGED BUT YOUR DETAILS WILL BE RETAINED AND YOU WILL BE CONTACTED SHOULD A SUITABLE OPPORTUNITY ARISE.

 

Arsenal Ladies Centre of Excellence
In 1997 The Football Association launched a Talent Development Plan for Women's Football, as part of The FA Charter for Quality. The Plan aimed to provide a sound structure for the development of elite talent in the female game.

An integral part of this Plan was the establishment and development of opportunities for elite girls aged 9 to 17 through "Centres of Excellence."

The purpose of the Arsenal Ladies Centres of Excellence is to identify female players of outstanding ability and place them in a technical and educational programme that is designed to produce excellent players and well balanced young people.

At Arsenal Ladies, the Centre of Excellence is the first part of a wider development programme for female players that meets the needs of footballers from 5 years old through to elite open age football.

The pathway includes:

• Arsenal Girls' U9 Player Development Centre (5- 8)
• Arsenal Girls' Centre of Excellence (U11,U13,U15,U17)
• University of Hertfordshire Ladies First Team (18+)
• Arsenal Ladies Reserves and First Team Squad (16+)

At Arsenal Ladies FC, this part of the pathway enables girls up to the age of 17 to play football at elite level.

The recent introduction of the Under 9 Player Development Centre enables very young players to have fun and gain valuable experience before progressing to the Centre of Excellence trials when they reach 9 years of age. You can get further information about the Under 9 Player Development Centre programme by going to the U9 Player Development Centre Page.

Those outfield players who are successful have twice weekly coaching from our highly qualified, experienced coaches while goalkeepers receive specific goalkeeping instruction from our two specialist goalkeeping coaches.

At Arsenal, each player follows a detailed Technical and Physical Programme that is specifically tailored for the five different age groups.

Responsibility for the delivery of the programme rests with Technical Director John Bayer, an UEFA ‘A' Licence coach who is also an FA Coach Educator and an FA Generic Tutor Training Tutor.

The Technical Director is supported by a highly qualified team of Chartered Physiotherapists.

All staff hold FA Enhanced CRB checks.

The Centre of Excellence offers superb training and playing facilities and, as well as playing football, the girls benefit from fitness assessments, health awareness and nutrition and lifestyle workshops.

Every season, each player receives two personal appraisals.

The Centre of Excellence is now in its 14th year and many players who have passed through the Centre have represented the Arsenal Ladies first team as well as gaining international honours.

This season the girls will play in the London and South East FA Girls Centre of Excellence Fixture Programme at U11, U13, U15 & U17 level.

They will play against other professional football clubs that include Chelsea, Norwich, Colchester and Brighton.

In 2012/13 the girls will also play touring sides from Scandinavia and Ireland in the Arsenal Cup and fixtures against Clubs from other regions including Aston Villa and Manchester United.

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Most seasons feature a Centre of Excellence tour and the 2011/12 tour to Ireland was a huge success. Featuring matches against representative sides from Dublin and Cork, it offered girls from all age groups the opportunity to spend time away from home with their team mates as part of our personal development and team building programme. The highlight of the tour was the U17 side defeating the Irish National U17 side 4-0.

Planning for the 2012/13 tour to Holland is well under way.

Arsenal Ladies FC have excellent links with the University of Hertfordshire. Several Arsenal Ladies players attend the University, many having moved on to the University after attending the Elite Education Programme. They all represent the University on Wednesday afternoons. The University of Hertfordshire Women's First Team have won the British Universities and Colleges Sport Southern Premier League Title for the last three seasons. The side that won these three titles was coached by the Arsenal Centre of Excellence Technical Director.

For further information on Football opportunities for females at the University of Hertfordshire please email b.n.clark@herts.ac.uk.