Heskey: Developing A Clear Pathway The Priority
- Emile Heskey joined LCFC Women in an ambassadorial role earlier this season
- The former Leicester City forward is mentoring and coaching, offering advice to LCFC Women players
- Heskey is also supporting the development of the women's game alongside existing club staff
- He says it is vital to ensure young girls are able to reach the elite level of the women's game
The Leicester City legend, who played 198 times for the Foxes between 1994 and 2000, scoring 46 goals, is delighted to be back involved with the Club.
He told LCFC TV about a long-term strategy that seeks to ensure the latest generation of young girls are given the opportunity to develop in a professional environment.
While also helping the team in a mentoring capacity, he will look to pass on his knowledge from 22 years at the top level of English football - which included winning the League Cup twice with City - during coaching sessions.
"It's wonderful (to be at Leicester City), especially on the site that I started many years ago, it's nice to be asked to come and give something back in this manner, to be honest with you," Heskey commented.
"I'm in an ambassadorial role helping with the women and mentoring with a little bit of coaching as well, so it's good. I'm working with the forwards, I got involved in it actually on Tuesday, but it wasn't too long so the body is not too bad at the moment.
"I'll be around if the girls need me for a little bit of advice. I've done a little bit over my career so hopefully I'll know what I'm talking about."
Heskey, who came through City's Academy in the 1990s, spoke about how vital it is for clear pathways into elite level football to be open for young girls in the Leicestershire area and beyond.
He added: "It's very important, this is one of the things that Jade Morgan and Russ Fraser will be putting in place and then helping with the development of the pathway and structure.
"When you look at what the Morgan family have done to get them to where it is, the structure that they've put in place, it gives a great foundation to move forward and this is great.
"I'm a local lad and coming through the ranks is very, very important. To have local people, giving them the opportunity to play in and around an environment like this and hopefully having exit strategies into the team.
"It's pointless keeping all that knowledge to yourself. I've been through that pathway, I've seen it and I've done it."
Team-Mates: LCFC Women
Find out more about the LCFC Women squad as a number of players take part in our team-mates feature.
Developing young talent into the team and ensuring the younger age groups have role models to look up to are both key targets for Heskey within his new role, which involves working alongside LCFC Women manager Jonathan Morgan.
"Jonathan [Morgan] has been doing it for several years now so hopefully we can carry on doing that with more of a pool of talent," the ex-England international explained.
"This is one of the things that we talked about as well, there are so many role models out there in the sense of women's football.
"Hopefully we can bring a couple of those here, even just to give speeches and talk through their careers and what they've had to go through, so it gives them to aspirations to do the same."