Member Article

SRC Bede teams up with Durham Women FC to help kick-start careers in sport

Budding young female footballers are being given the chance to develop their skills alongside their education thanks to an exciting new college partnership.

SRC Bede Sixth Form in Billingham has teamed up with Durham Women Football Club to enable up and coming young players the chance to shine.

Working together the college and the club have announced plans to run a Girls’ Football Academy, giving aspiring footballers aged 16 to 19 the chance to combine football with studying A levels or vocational qualifications.

SRC Bede’s Campus Principal Ben Robinson said: “This is a great opportunity for young female players in the Tees Valley area to enter a programme with recognised pathways to the professional game whilst continuing their education in a dual-career ethos.”

Durham Women FC general manager Lee Sanders said: “It’s a big part of our development as a club that we are able to offer players from all over the North East the opportunity of a dual-career pathway, which is essentially studying while playing football.

“We’re delighted to be offering this to players in Teesside, the Tees Valley and North Yorkshire areas.

The new Girls’ Football Academy will kick off at SRC Bede in September and the young players will get the chance to compete against some of the best young players in the country as they represent Durham Women FC in both the National Football Youth League and North East Colleges’ League.

Academy players may even get to represent Durham Women FC as part of one of their squads which will compete in the FA Women’s National League or FA Women’s Championship in 2019/20.

The new partnership with Durham Women FC comes just weeks after SRC Bede was also awarded Dual Accredited College status by the Talented Athletes Scholarship Scheme (TASS), a Sport England-backed programme that supports talented young athletes to pursue their education alongside their sporting aspirations, without having to choose between the two.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Marie Turbill .