Amanda Greenslade believes the Doncaster Rovers Belles RTC have adapted well to life amid COVID-19 restrictions after a challenging first few months as technical director.
Amanda, who works for the Football Association as a regional PE officer, took on the role earlier in the year at a time when the country was still in lockdown.
She said: “It has been an interesting and difficult few months given the circumstances, and a bit of a learning curve, but so far so good.
“There has been a lot more paperwork and risk assessments, but we’ve transitioned really well and been on top of it from the start. We got the girls back in nice and early despite the challenges, we were able to give them plenty of training in a long pre-season. It has been a long few months but we’ve managed to get the best out of the situation.”
The regional talent centre is the home of elite girls football in Doncaster, with the hope that youngsters growing up in the area can follow in the footsteps of Belles who have gone on to represent England.
Amanda added: “The big aim of all RTCs is to produce future England players, and we are a direct feed into that elite pathway. It’s a step up from grassroots football, to get talented girls in the local area the best coaching, development opportunities and playing against others of similar standard before hopefully feeding into the young Lionesses.
“We’ve brought through quite a few players. We’ve had players representing England as well as going on to compete at tier 2, 3 and 4 - that provides a real journey for these girls all the way from them coming in at 11 to leaving us at 16.
“There’s some fantastic success stories in there, ultimately we want our players to go on and represent England but we want to make sure they get into the best environment at 16 as they can.”