Talented young athletes are proving they’re on the ball this season taking Billingham’s Bede Sixth Form College to its first women’s national college football final.
Bede’s ISE Women’s First Team will head to Leicester on Thursday (May 8) where they will take on Hartpury College, Gloucester, in the England Colleges’ Football Association (ECFA) Women’s Premier National Plate Final.
Confident they can take the win, Bede student, Grace, 16, from Yarm, said: “We are in a good place, our players are all at a good standard. When we play together it works, so I think we are going to win.”
Playing for Durham Women’s Under 21s, Grace is no stranger to the pressure of a competitive game and is looking forward to showing exactly what the Bede ISE players can do.
Teammate Kulreet, 17, from Ingleby Barwick, agrees. She said: “The competition will be challenging; it has to be to for the team to have got to this level.”
She firmly believes you need challenge to progress and go on to produce your best results.
Having spent the last season representing England in the ECFA national women’s team, and also playing for Durham Women’s Under 18s, she has just been offered a contract with the Durham Under 21s squad.
But whoever you play for, she said: “You want to perform well in every match, though it would be nice to bring this one back for the college. And it would be good for the girls in Year 13 to get to finish their college experience with a win.”
After what has been a top-quality run for the Bede ISE Women’s team, finishing second in the region’s ECFA Premier Division league and making it all the way through to the semi-final for the English Schools’ Football Association (ESFA) U18 Arnold Clark Super league cup final, coach Elliot Pledger said: “This has got to be their time.
“Playing in the highest division, the team has been incredible, but it does feel like we have just missed out, coming second in the league and then just falling short at the cup semi-final.
“I am so proud of the team, the attitude and resilience they have shown. Each time they are getting that one step closer, learning from their experiences and this is going to be the point to finally get themselves over the line.”
Bede Sixth Form College offers its own Institute of Sport and Education (ISE) providing talented young athletes leaving school the chance to continue to progress in their sport alongside their education.
On the women’s football academy making it through to the national plate final, Elliot said: “This is huge both for the team and for the college, we have never made it to a women’s national final before. It is testament to the commitment and hard work of the team and the calibre of the players.”
