Background

Charlton Athletic's commitment to developing the women's and girls' game is expressed by the 140 female players currently representing the club at various levels.

The club operates a development pathway by which a young player can work her way up to the top of the women's game.

One step on that pathway is the Charlton Athletic Women's Football Academy, which provides the only FA Premier League Football Apprenticeship for female footballers in England and is designed for students aged 16 years and upwards.

The Charlton Athletic Women's Football Academy is a partnership between the club, London Leisure College, Greenwich University and Canterbury High School.

The academy is designed to provide opportunities for talented players over 16, and places them in a technical and educational programmes designed to produce excellence in conjunction with scope for personal development. The academy is selective and trials are held annually.

Students receive a minimum of eight hours quality coaching per week, which includes conditioning, strength, agility and quickness training.

Students can attend the London academy campus where students train at the club's Sparrows Lane professional football training ground or for those students living in Kent and who wish to live at home, the Canterbury High School campus where they will train and study alongside students enrolled on the parallel athletics, rugby, tennis and cricket academies.

Players from both campuses are coached by first-team coach Keith Boanas with goalkeeping coaching from the former Addicks' number one Pauline Cope, who in her international career amassed 60 caps for her country.

Players are selected to compete in the U19 FA Women's Academy League, and also the SESSA college league, both of which operate on Wednesday afternoons.

Coaching sessions take place three or four afternoons a week, including two hours of goalkeeping coaching (this is dependent on the campus).

Players attending the academy can, once qualified with the Level 1 FA Coaching Certificate, take up the opportunity to work on the many coaching initiatives operated by Greenwich Sports promotions, the Charlton Athletic women's football KITE. programme, the Charlton Athletic community programme, and other football providers in the area.

Many of the academy players have previously graduated from the club's centre of excellence, which operates for players from the ages of seven to 16 years.

Players can progress from the academy into the senior women's team, and there are also links with local clubs such as Gravesend & Northfleet, where players can spend a season or two developing their skills before progressing into the Addicks reserve team.

On the academic side, academy graduates progress into many jobs within the health and leisure industry including sports administration and in addition progress to study degree level courses at Greenwich University in London, Christchurch University in Kent and other universities around the country and abroad.

To date, one academy student has been offered a place at Cambridge University on completion of her course.

There are also links with the Charlton Athletic United States Soccer Academy, (CAUSSA) which provides opportunities for players to move onto a degree course at an American University.

For more information, visit www.cafcussa.com or email info@cafcussa.com.

On the playing side, the academy has seen five players selected for the England national team, while another 26 have progressed into the Charlton Athletic senior team, where the club currently operates a squad of more than 40 players.