The club are delighted to announce that our Girls Centre of Excellence licence has been retained for the 2015-16 season
In April all current Centres of Excellence had to reapply for a new Licence for the 2015-16 season and we are pleased to announce that our application has been successful and we will continue in an exclusive group of organisations across the country in the FA’s Centre of Excellence Programme, running age groups from U9s to U17s for talented female players.Director of Girls and Women’s Football at Gillingham FC, Adam Lawrence commented: “The 2014-15 season was a great success for our Girls Centre of Excellence with real improvements on the pitches, but perhaps more noticeably off of the pitch where we had a number of positive staffing changes and a new training venue.
"These improvements, we are delighted to announce, have been rewarded with a renewed Centre Licence for the forthcoming 2015-16 season.”
“Gillingham Football Club has become a leading example of Girls Football in Kent, and we are proud to run a successful and ever improving Centre of Excellence for girls and young women in the South East.
Excellent staff enable us to offer talented female footballers a pathway to improve and reach their potential. It is great news that we have the opportunity to continue this hard work going forward.”
Centre Manager, Georgia Bowie added “It’s been such a successful year at the Girls Centre of Excellence, with squad sizes continuously looking to grow throughout the season and the U17s making GFC GCOE history by reaching the Semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup.”
“We’ve seen girls represent England either at training camps, international fixtures, or Elite Performance Camps, we’ve moved to a fantastic new ground for our twice weekly training sessions, and we’ve got an absolutely superb group of talented, passionate staff both in the coaching, admin and sports therapy departments.”
“We are one big Gills family, and the great atmosphere and positive environment that we’ve set has transferred to all the girls throughout all the age groups, from the U9’s right through to the U17’s. Who are now looking to the Gillingham Ladies as their next step.
"Setting the perfect environment is crucial to aid the development of the hugely talented pool of girls we have at Gillingham, and we have seen an excellent rate of development this season that is credit to everyone who works so hard at the Centre of Excellence to give our girls the best possible opportunity to fulfill their potential”.
Graduate of the Centre and current Student at the Gills Academy said “The Centre has given me great experiences and memories and has been a pleasure to be a part of.
"I have been given great opportunities to work with talented and enthusiastic staff and players that have helped me progress from a Centre player to playing with the Ladies and in the Academy.”
Everyone at the club is looking forward to another successful season with the Centre.
The centre will be holding its trials for the new season in June, for full details please click here
To find out more about our Girls Centre of Excellence please click here.