As part of our Summer Series, we were privileged to play host to a number of grassroots girls and women’s football teams at the incredible Elite Football Performance Centre in Brighton.
Boosted by some south coast sunshine, the day proved to be an amazing experience for all involved. With over 400 players, coaches and spectators in attendance at an absolute feast of football ⚽
The facility is exactly as it says on the tin – “elite”. It’s the base for Brighton & Hove Albion’s professional men’s and women’s teams, plus a Category One academy setup.
It boasts everything you’d expect from a state-of-the-art Premier League training ground, and more. 11 natural grass and artificial pitches, as well as a covered indoor pitch. There are also medical rooms, a gym, a swimming pool and a huge canteen.
For the event, we were given access to the centre’s dedicated women’s pitches, used by the club’s Women’s Super League team.
Eight teams of under 14s girls from all over the country traveled to Brighton for the tournament: East Surrey Girls, Sale United, two teams from Kings Hill, Ballers Academy, Worthing Town, Watford Ladies and Medway Utd.
After a full day of really high quality football, it was Kings Hill’s Spitfires team that came out victorious and took home the Summer Series trophy 🏆
We also watched a well-contested 90 minute adult match between Grenfell Athletic and Eastbourne Town FC Women.
And to top it all off, to provide some added inspiration for the players, Football influencer Nancy Baker hosted a Q&A with Brighton midfielder Libby Bance. They chatted about all things football, Libby’s career and her top tip for making it in the game.
If this event was anything to go by, then the future of grassroots women’s football is very bright indeed. Hopefully the experience has bolstered all of the participants’ love of the beautiful game even further.
Massive thanks to our friends at Nike for helping to make it happen, and to Nancy and Libby for coming along! 🙏