Last week, Burnley FC in the Community hosted a friendly match between Burnley FC’s Emerging Talent Centre and Blackpool FC’s Emerging Talent Centre at Shuttleworth College.
Our Emerging Talent Centre (ETC) is aimed at girls aged 8 to 16 and aims to give more girls the chance to take their first steps on the pathway towards playing professional football and following in the footsteps of the inspirational Lionesses.
To start off the evening, Megan the Women’s First Team Strength, and Conditioning Coach, got our team warmed up and ready to give it their all! The girls then split off into different pitches and the matches began!
Whilst the girls were playing, we caught up with the Andy Aspinall the Female Football Development Manager for Blackpool FC’s ETC who said “Thank you to Burnley FC for inviting us down, it’s brilliant to see so many talented girls coming together and playing football. It’s a great opportunity for talent girls all over the North West to meet and learn from each other”.
We also caught up with one of our ETC parents John who manages 10 teams at Euxton Villa, he told us “I have worked in football for over ten years, and I think the ETC has been a revelation. It’s allowed so many young girls to play football who wouldn’t get the opportunity to train at this level anywhere else.”
Finally, we spoke to Laura, mum of two of our ETC girls who said “The ETC has been great so far, the girls have loved the additional training. Both my girls play for Burnley FC, so we’ve known the coaches a long time. I love how all they are really personable and know all the girls names off by heart!”.
To finish off the evening, we gave out Burnley FC Shirts to all our players so they can wear them with pride next time they’re on the pitch!
A big thank you to both teams, the coaches and staff for supporting the evening – we can’t wait for more friendly’s in the future.
If you would like to find out more about ETC please email our Female Football Development Officer, Rebecca Clough: R.Clough@burnleyfc.com
