How to create successful pathways for female players in England

But how do they get there? For me, there are four key areas.

The first of these is recruitment. Linking with community programmes, where The Albion Foundation engages with hundreds of intentional female footballers, is key.

As the club develops with its more ‘elite’ remit, we must continue to support grassroots clubs and engage with players at the entry level of the game.

More developed players have an opportunity for skill-enhancement sessions at the Player Development Academies, before potentially being selected for the RTC. 

We also run yearly trials and, critically, have a profile of what we would like our players to have in terms of physicality - speed, especially - intelligence, personality, and technique. 

Secondly, we must consider the club structure - in particular, selecting the correct age groups in the pathway is important. 

The RTC provides opportunities at u12s, u13s, u14s and u16s. We feel single age bands for the younger girls is important to avoid physical mismatches and encourages technical development.

The third aspect is high-quality coaching. Indeed, the role of the coaches can never be underestimated.

Having a caring, competent and consistent coach is essential. They must be committed for the right reasons and have their own development plans to stay connected to their own learning.

As coach educator, this is the part of my job I love, helping coaches to help players through a robust and individualised professional development programme for each coach. Much like players, coaches have their own needs, challenges and ambitions.

The final aspect is the player themselves - the most important person in the entire equation. 

What do they need? What are they good at? What challenges do they have? Where do we think their journey could end up? 

We could spend hours each week reflecting on these questions. I’d encourage players and parents being heavily involved in this reflection. As coaches, we can’t just make decisions about a player based on our assumptions.

Tailoring a player-centred approach is hard and takes time. But the rewards when West Bromwich Albion Women win a game at The Hawthorns in front of 1,800 fans, with six former RTC players in the starting line-up, is worth it. Every time.

In my role, I would like to think I have played some part in this journey for these young players, whether it be recruiting them, recruiting and developing their coaches or by constantly reflecting on the ’why?’.

We have certainly made mistakes, and Covid impacted on our process massively. However, the West Bromwich Albion Women coaching family as a whole have played their part in the great progress over the last couple of years.

There is no secret ingredient. I just ask staff to work harder than anyone else, be innovative, be excellent, and always show integrity.

These are our core values, and aspects we believe in passionately in player development.

Dave’s three steps to developing an effective player pathway

Start with the ’why?’:

Reflect on why it is important for you to have an effective player pathway. This ‘why’ may be to develop your reputation as a club, to help recruit players, or to play an integral role in providing the national team with their next star. 

Consider the ’how?’

How can we create an outstanding player pathway? Reflect on what you are doing now that works. Your coaches may be caring, your environment may be good, the age group structure may work. The next part of this, the less comfortable bit, is identifying the areas that need to change. Maybe you need more CPD for staff or yourself. Recruitment may need to be better or the environment the players come into may not be right. Confront the brutal facts. It may not be a nice process, but it is crucial in developing an action plan for improvement, which fundamentally will improve the pathway. 

Act

Put these thoughts in to actions. Whether you are the u8s coach, head of coaching, sports science coach or welfare officer, you are important. Your conduct and attitude to player development will have a massive impact on others. For example, instead of shaking hands with players when they come into training, have a chat with them. How are they feeling? What are they looking forward to in tonight’s session? This helps you shape your session and gives you intel about the player. This is mandatory in our club. Create a culture of care and learning.