GIRLS ELITE ACADEMY INFORMATION BOOKLET - Girls Elite Academy for U16's, U14's, U12's and U10's - Hull City Ladies

GIRLS ELITE ACADEMY

 GIRLS ELITE ACADEMY
INFORMATION BOOKLET

 Girls Elite Academy for U16’s, U14’s, U12’s and U10’s

OUR VISION:
Our vision is to fulfil elite female potential in everything we do, to provide the highest level of coaching
and development for girls in Hull and the surrounding region, helping them reach and exceed their
potential whilst providing a pathway into senior women’s football so they can go onto play at the
highest level of football for both club and country.

OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
• To apply Excellent Technical & Tactical, Psychosocial and Sports Science practices to provide a holistic
development programme for elite female footballers.

• Players must be challenged to become independent decision makers, creative and resilient, with the
ability to understand different states of the game and react positively, to the needs of the team at any
given moment

OUR CORE VALUES:
• To be proud of who you are, work hard, display honesty, togetherness and strive to be the best you
can be. These qualities must be demonstrated at all times.

• To believe in yourself, believe in the person standing next to you and be brave.

THE GIRLS ELITE ACADEMY HAS THE
FOLLOWING FIVE KEY AIMS:
• To optimise each individual’s psychosocial development and maintain their health, well being and
potential through facilitated coaching with a player centred focus incorporating England DNA to reach
their best of their ability so they can go onto play at the highest level of football.

• To identify female players of ability and place them in an elite academy development programme
that is designed to produce excellent players and well balanced young people.

• The girls in the elite academy will train with us to maximise their playing potential whilst also training
for their respective clubs and will also compete for their junior clubs at the weekend. This will help to
increase confidence, skill, strength, condition, speed, technical/tactical play, together with helping to
support the grass-roots community football teams and clubs.

• To develop players confidence, knowledge and skills further.

• We aim to create a positive learning environment using the Long Term Player Development Model
across the four corners of; technical, physical, social, and psychological at every stage of their
development.

FOREWORD: INSPIRING THE NEXT
GENERATION
Hull City Ladies are going from strength to strength and are improving on and off the field. We
currently compete in the Women’s National League (Women’s Football pyramid Tier Three) and have
fantastic players and staff.

We pride ourselves on having a club that celebrates its equality & diversity which our supporters,
community and the city can be proud of and can only enhance the growth of the club, women’s & girl's
football. Hull City Ladies work tirelessly both on and off the field to help enhance the women's game
within the heart of our city and globally.

There will be opportunities and chances to play for the Hull City Ladies' first team and the Hull City
Ladies Reserve team. Abi Wallace, Faith Martin, Aoife Brannigan have all appeared this season and are
proof that First Team Manager Adi Costello will give players a chance.

Abi, Faith, Florence Pegrum, Harley Skinner and Tillie Oxley have all joined the club from York RTC and
have all appeared for the Tigresses in 2020. Maddie Blundell also joined the club from York RTC and has
received a squad number for Hull City Ladies and stars for the reserves, alongside Kazia Walby who
came to the club from Doncaster RTC.

The Tigresses are brilliant role models for our academy young players and we have fantastic
experienced players who can help players evolve, improve and grow.

First team manager Adi Costello said: “Whilst I am in charge we will give those that are good enough
regardless of age a chance, we won’t throw them in without the full support of all the staff & players.”

Our Club Ambassador, Carol Thomas is an inspiration to the Tigresses & female footballers. Carol
became the first England captain to surpass 50 caps and is a fantastic role model for the girls in the
academy.

Thomas said: “I was approached with regard to becoming the Tigresses first ever Ambassador and
Lifetime Honorary Member, as a true hullensian, I am deeply honoured to accept these roles from my
local club.”

Academy Manager, Bob Wilkinson said: “The Hull City Ladies Academy vision, structure and philosophy
excites me and I am really looking forward to passing on my knowledge, experience and coaching
delivery for the seasons ahead, to be part of this holistic team, to develop every player I can, to build
and promote an Girls Elite Academy for the area and to pursue a positive and successful future for
everyone concerned.”

DEVELOP, EMPOWER & ACHIEVE
One purpose of the Academy is to identify female players of ability and place them in an elite development
programme that is designed to produce excellent players and well balanced young people.

Our Girls Elite Academy will mirror Regional Talent Centres in all aspects, however, girls in our academy will
train with us to maximise their playing potential whilst also training for their respective clubs and will also
compete for their junior clubs at the weekend.

Hull is a great catchment area for promising young female footballers. The nearest Girls Academy/Regional
Talent Centres (RTC’s) are York, Leeds and Doncaster and whilst these are great RTC’s they are out of town
and their location prevents many young talented footballers from our region attending them.

Our Girls Elite Academy is on the doorstep and we will provide the same professional coaching, syllabus and
player centric development which is shown at other RTC's. Each player will have an Individual Learning
Profile (ILP), together with scheduled Player/Parent Reviews. This will help to increase confidence, skill,
strength, condition, speed and technical/tactical play.

MORE THAN FOOTBALL
The overall aim is for girls to reach the best of their ability so they can go onto play at the highest level of
football for both club and country. We believe that it’s not all about winning, whilst we still always strive for
excellence, we endeavour to educate its players in all positions of the game, including technical, personal,
tactical, social, moral and physiological development.

Our aims will be for the players to have a good work ethic, have self-belief, have good determination, and
be a team player. Also, to work hard, believe in yourself, believe in the person standing next to you, believe
in yourself as a team and be brave.

For the first year/season (2020/21), the Girls Elite Academy will not play any league fixtures, however, we
will have friendlies. The sessions will be innovative, inclusive, fun and engaging in order to give girls more
contact time, the opportunity to polish their skills, improve technique, have fun and extend their football
knowledge whilst playing in a safe and friendly environment.

COST AND PLAYER’S BENEFITS
The academy will be an annual subscription of £300 with payment options available.

This will include:

Each player will receive their own academy kit, which is designed and made by Hope & Glory
Sportswear.

Players will be coached by UEFA licensed coaches. We also have fantastic goalkeeper, analyst and physio
staff members. More detail on our excellent coaches are below.

Access to exclusive opportunities will be given and all junior players and Under 16’s will be enabled to
gain free entry to every home game of the season which includes League games, League Cup games
and FA Cup games.

Girls in the Academy will receive priority access for mascots, ball-girls. Hull City Ladies player
attendances and Q&A sessions can also be offered. Players will also be given education workshops and
special guest talks.

All parents will be given opportunities to purchase season passes, matchday tickets, and merchandise at
a special discounted rate. Discount codes will also be given to players if they want to purchase additional
Hull City Ladies attire.

Players will receive a minimum of four hours of training per week. The academy will follow a structured
player centric syllabus and each player will have a player/parent review after a designated time period
to compliment their respective Individual Learning Portfolio.

Players will receive professional photography and professional headshots from Kevin Greene, which will
then go on our teams section profile on our club website.

COACHING EXCELLENCE
All staff that are employed by Hull City Ladies have exceptional knowledge, experience and are highly-qualified to
help develop the next generation of female elite players for the club. All staff also hold FA Enhanced DBS/CRB
checks, up-to-date FA Safeguarding and Emergency First Aid qualifications.

ACADEMY MANAGER, BOB WILKINSON: academy@hullcityladies.com

Bob has been an FA Licensed UEFA B/Level 3 coach since 2007 and is currently doing his UEFA A Licence Diploma
together with his UEFA A Elite Youth Licence. He is a current FA Affiliate Tutor, delivering the Level 1 and 2
coaching qualifications for both the North and West Riding County FA areas and was an FA Coach Mentor until the
scheme was stopped Nationally in 2020. Bob was also a Technical Coach for the Under 16’s at York Regional Talent
Club (RTC) for over 3 years till 2020.

He is the Manager and Head Coach at Harrogate Town AFC Ladies first team, who currently play in the North East
Regional Women’s football league.

Bob truly believes that every moment matters in coaching and is passionate about long term player development
of all age groups, both male and female, both outfield and goalkeeper and always with the intention to develop
players to their best of their ability and beyond, from grassroots to elite and hopefully onto future elite
professional football, together with his own continuous personal development.

COACHING EXCELLENCE
FOUNDATION MANAGER, LAURIE MCGINLEY: foundation@hullcityladies.com

Laurie is a UEFA Licensed coach with over 13 years experience working with youth and children of grassroots to
elite levels. He has worked as a head of youth, 1st team head coach and also represented Scotland’s National
team in disability CP football winning over 40 caps.

Laurie is dedicated to helping young players develop and improve. He is constantly learning about football
management and mindset. He currently has an Advanced Children’s Licence and a wealth of experience working
in Scotland. Previously he has worked for Glasgow Girls and Women FC as their Football Development Officer,
helping develop children from 3-16 years old with football and life skills. He has also worked at Airdrie Ladies FC
as First Team Head Coach.

Laurie said: “I’m looking forward to working with the excellent team at Hull City Ladies FC as their foundation
manager. Developing the skills of talented Children and youth players is something I am extremely passionate
about.”

WORKING TOGETHER AS ONE
We not only want to develop elite players within the Girls Academy and help them fulfil their potential.
We want to help, grow and evolve grass-roots football. The academy will work with football clubs to
increase girls' participation and to create further contact time.

We already do fantastic work in the community and run popular after school clubs, futsal sessions and
half-term camps. This helps to promote increased participation and retention in the female game.

The Tigress Club Partner programme is an initiative that allows grass-roots clubs to become partnered
with a local elite women’s football club. We currently have 18 teams part of the programme as clubs
receive many benefits for being a member.

TOGETHER STRONGER
Hull City Ladies have an extended and growing network of sponsors and key partners. These fantastic
partners range from an award-winning agency Init Creative who specialise in video, animation, design,
and web design to an international football agent. Kevin Greene Photography seizes moments of
celebration, on and off the playing field which will elevate the Academies journey. OctoVision also can
elevate the Academy using their brilliant aerial drone photography as they fuse their passion for aerial
photography and cinematography with the latest drone and camera equipment. Our main sponsors
Wolds Engineering are a fantastic sponsor, they provide companies with all their PPE needs and they will
help promote the Academy to wider audiences. Our first team players and staff have sponsors, we
envision that academy players will have sponsors in the near future.

Dates/Times/Venue
The young girls who are part of our academy are provided with two nights of training a week, this will
enable players to still train for their junior club.

For training venue, dates and times, please see our website for further details.

hullcityladies.com

All dates, times and venue are subject to change.

COVID-19 DISCLAIMER
In everything we do, we will always adhere to guidelines set by the government and the FA. The FA
continues to work closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and Sport
England in order to provide good practice guidance for those responsible for delivering different aspects
of grass-roots football. As the weeks/months progress, Government restrictions may or may not be
eased further.

Whatever the government outcomes are we’ll update our guidance accordingly. It’s essential everyone is
clear about the restrictions and works together to manage social distancing and promote good hygiene.
Hull City Ladies are clear that safety for all concerned is of paramount importance to us.

Hull City Ladies have a full Covid 19 Risk assessment in place, this also includes a Covid Officer (Beth
van Tilburg). This can be viewed if requested.

SAFEGUARDING
(Welfare Officer: Beth van Tilburg - 07879779601 - welfare@hullcityladies.com)

As a club we take safeguarding very seriously, it is therefore important to note the following; *We work
with independent photographers and videographers and we are visited by other media sources. Please
make one of our staff aware should this pose a safeguarding issue for any child you have that will be
attending.

WHAT TO DO NOW?
If you like what you see and you are interested in registering for the academy, please follow the steps
below!

1 - Visit Hullcityladies.com
2 - Hover over the Youth section and click Girls Elite Academy
3 - Click the orange box and then fill out the interest form

Keep an eye out on our social media channels for up to date trial dates.
Trial dates will be determined on COVID-19 restrictions.

Calendar dates will be published in the near future, in line with COVID-19 restrictions.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to email us at info@hullcityladies.com.

                                            CONTACT US
                                                HULL CITY LADIES FOOTBALL CLUB
                                           K2 TOWER, 60 BOND STREET, HULL, HU1 3EN

                                                 #TigressWay
                                               01482 426068             www.hullcityladies.com

                                                HullCityLFC      HullCityLFC        hullcitylfc

                                                                HullCityGirls

Photographs by Kevin Greene Photography, Taking a frame from life, 07980497164
Words by Alex Robinson, Bob Wilkinson & Laurie McGinley.
Our brilliant main sponsor Wolds Engineering and our fantastic fans, sponsors and key partners.