Leicester City Girls' Regional Talent Club
Click here to download the 'About Us' pdf.
The RTC is an integral part of the FA Girls’ England Talent Pathway and has secured a Tier 1 FA Licence for the 2019/20 season. Established in 1999 as a Centre of Excellence, it was one of the first centres to gain a licence from the FA within this elite programme.
The FA Girls’ England Talent Pathway was put in place to support the identification and development of young talented female footballers. Its aim is to enable players to fulfil their developmental needs, thereby reaching the ultimate goal of producing elite English female players to compete on the world stage.
Each stage of the pathway has been specifically designed to ensure appropriate playing opportunities are accessible and inclusive for female players across the country.
All members of RTC technical coaching staff are FA qualified coaches who hold a minimum FA Level 2 coaching certificate in the lower age groups and an FA UEFA B coaching qualification as a minimum in the older age groups, although several of the technical coaching staff exceed these minimum requirements. The technical coaching team is led by the Technical Director, Raffaele Long, FAEFA A Licence.
Our coaching team undergo Staff Performance Reviews each season. In addition, they are required to attend a full CPD Programme specified by the FA, including In-Service events, some of which the FA provide and others which we arrange and may tailor more specifically to our own requirements.
Our Injury Management team all hold professional Sports Therapy or Physiotherapy qualifications with full indemnity insurance as well as being members of the appropriate governing bodies. They provide a full injury management service for our players, including rehabilitation and pre-habilitation.
In addition, we have fully qualified professional strength and conditioning staff who work with all age groups, both on a group and individual basis.
All staff are required to complete the FA’s Safeguarding Qualification, which then must be regularly updated. This is part of a comprehensive safeguarding process within the RTC and the wider club which is overseen by the LCFC Children’s Welfare Officer, Dale Bradshaw, and Community Trust Welfare Officer, Sally Wan, who deal with any welfare and safeguarding related issues in respect of our RTC players.
Staff
Centre Manager - Jo Sjoberg
Technical Director - Raffaele Long
Under-10s Coaches - Tom Twigg and Sam Pearson
Under-12s Coaches – Toni-Louise Wellings and Ian Allen
Under-14s Coaches – Ben Law and Josh Taylor
Under-16s Coaches - Ian Harrison and Jack White
Goalkeeper Coach - Alan Murray
Lead FUTSAL Coach – Jose Llorrente Parra
Physical Performance Coaches - Thomas Morgan and Kane Darkes
Injury Management Team
Gurjinder Ghuman
Kris Mac Mahon
Zoe Pottinger
Carl Daborn
Cover – Sam Briggs-Price
Cover – Ellie Hargreaves
Welfare & Safeguarding Officer - Sally Wan
Head of Welfare - Dale Bradshaw
Accountability
The RTC is funded jointly by Leicester City Football Club, Leicester City Community Trust and the FA.
We adhere to strict FA Licence Agreement Terms in all aspects of running the RTC on a day to day basis. We remain fully accountable to the FA throughout the season, with monitoring visits from the FA, to assess our administrative procedures, and our technical coaching skills and strategies. We also remain accountable throughout to Leicester City Football Club and Leicester City Football Club’s Community Trust.
Structure
The RTC operates four age groups, from U10 through to U16, with up to 15 players in each of the lower age groups and up to 18 players in the two older age groups.
Each age group has two dedicated outfield technical coaches. Our goalkeeper coach also works with all age groups at every training session and our physical performance coaches work with all age groups on a weekly basis.
Training Sessions and Fixtures
Each age group participates in a minimum of two two-hour training sessions per week.
Our season is a minimum of 36 weeks long. We engage in a full fixture programme from our U10s through to our U16s, playing in the RTC programme or a charter standard league for the U10 & U12 age groups. Our U16s, in addition to their league matches and friendly matches, also compete in the Girls’ RTC National Youth Cup.
Leicester City Girls’ Regional Talent Club has a significant role to play in developing Leicester’s current resources for a coordinated approach across the city, county and country, to raise the profile of girls’ sport and create new influential role models for our city’s female football players.
Leicester City FC Regional Talent Club will be leading the way in talent identification, player development and creating elite pathways for female footballers by:
- Developing personal skill sets
- Improving physical wellbeing
- Developing teamwork
- Understanding the Player Pathway from grassroots to international
- Individual training plans
- Supporting players’ psychological development
To summarise, as the only club in Leicestershire offering an elite youth female football programme, Leicester City Girls’ Regional Talent Club provides an effective, well-structured and safe environment for girls with elite football skills.
As part of its on-going girls’ football development programme Leicester City Community Trust has set up a Girls Talent Centre that provides addition training for any player wishing to widen their football knowledge. This programme combines with the players’ club coaching. This supportive programme has also supported the RTC and it has successful evidence of developing players in to the RTC programme. This programme is expected to grow throughout the City.
To contact Leicester City Girls’ Regional Talent Club, click HERE.