This season the Centre will continue to operate at Under 10’s, Under 12’s, Under 14’s and Under 16’s. The centre would like Clubs and Schools to select players from their squads who they consider to have outstanding potential to take part in the Centre of Excellence assessment period and ultimately be given the opportunity to take part in a programme aimed at personal development for talented players.
The nominated players will be invited to attend a number of assessment dates. Players that were registered with the Centre of Excellence last season will be invited automatically to
re-trial and do not need to be recommended by their individual clubs. All squad places will be assessed and places will be offered to those considered to be at the correct standard for the Centre of Excellence.
Clubs are invited to recommend players from their squads to the age groups (please note that the age groups may differ from the Lancashire Girls League) but initially must insist that only outstanding players are forwarded. Therefore we have a maximum of 2 players from each team to be recommended (this does not include players that you may have that were with us last season). Some Clubs may consider themselves to have more than 2 players of the required standard, however the Centre must cap the number of players and therefore stress that players should be of outstanding quality. This should make the assessment period easier to manage and allow for quality monitoring of players.
There are currently 50 Centre’s of Excellence throughout the country and they sit within the Football Association’s talent development plan. The Centre of Excellence is the next major step towards playing at International level, and with this in mind, the Blackburn Rovers Centre of Excellence will receive regular visits from the F.A.
Club Secretary/Manager/Teacher please note following parental implications from previous seasons we now require ALL nominations to be counter signed by the Club Secretary/School PE Teacher in order to validate all recommendations. If the nomination forms are not signed players will not be permitted to attend Centre of Excellence trials. Furthermore, could club officials please make all parents aware that we will not accept parental recommendations. Parents should be discouraged from calling Blackburn Rovers Centre of Excellence at any time prior and during the season.
The trials will be held at Preston Sports Arena. For details of trials dates see the link to the right of this page, along with the nomination forms.
Club Secretary/Manager/Teacher please note following parental implications from previous seasons ALL nominations are required to be counter signed by the Club Secretary/School PE Teacher in order to validate all recommendations. If the nomination forms are not signed players will not be permitted to attend Centre of Excellence trials.
If you do have players which you feel have good potential, please complete the forms linked to the right of this page and return no later than Friday 16th May 2008 to:
Gemma Donnelly, c/o Blackburn Rovers FC, Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire .
Late nominations will not be guaranteed a place on the assessments.