Performance sport
FA Girls' Centre of Excellence
We have been chosen as a FA Girls’ Centre of Excellence to help the next generation of female football stars flourish.
For more information about the FA Girls' Centre of Excellence contact Centre Manager Paul Kreczak on 01642 342287 or email p.kreczak@tees.ac.uk
The University is the only Centre of Excellence in the North East and the only university in the country to hold the prestigious FA accolade.
As a Centre of Excellence the region’s top girl footballers will have access to our state of the art facilities, coaching expertise and sport science support.
The Centre aims to produce female footballers of international calibre and already has a number of junior England players on its books.
Girls train twice a week and are split into five age groups:
- under 9s
- under 11s
- under 13s
- under 15s
- under 17s.
The under 17 girls play in a competitive league and cup, taking on other Centres of Excellence in the North East and Yorkshire region.
Paul Kreczak, Centre Manager, said: 'There are some really talented girls here and our aim is to help them flourish and hopefully reach international level.
‘The facilities at the University are fantastic and the expertise of the staff here will really help to bring the girls’ game on – I can’t wait to see what we can achieve.’
The girls are coached by Centre Director Gemma Grainger, who is also studying her BSc (Hons) Sport and Excercise (Coaching Science) degree at Teesside.
Sport science support
As well as a rigorous training regime, the University offers unique sport science support to the girls. The sport science service has highly qualified and experienced staff, accredited with the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences.
The girls are given fitness testing four times per year, which has been specifically tailored to provide information on the most important components of fitness for football.
Their strength and conditioning is also monitored to help with injury reduction and improve functional movement.
