Date Published: Tuesday, 29th June, 2021 - 12:30pm by Nik Mesney
Connah's Quay Nomads are delighted to announce the launch of our full time ladies football scholarship programme in partnership with Coleg Cambria.
The full-time football scholarship programme, the first of it's kind, will start at Coleg Cambria Deeside in September 2021, open to all women aged 16-19 who wish to attend Coleg Cambria Deeside, combining their academic studies alongside a full-time professional football programme.
Leading the project will be The Nomads' Ladies Head Coach, Jordan Parry, who will be taking up a full-time role at the football club with huge focus on the ladies setup and development of full-time scholarship and our ladies senior team.
Ladies Scholars will take part in two games per week including playing in the North West Colleges League on a Wednesday with U19s North Wales Ladies league on Friday evenings, as well as being entered into the British Colleges Cup and Welsh Schools Cup competitions. All scholars will be registered to Connah's Quay Nomads and will train within our Ladies senior side also, with the potential to represent the first team each Sunday in the North Wales Tier 2 Senior League.
The new Nomads Ladies scholarship will run alongside our hugely successful men's programme that is now going into its seventh year.
The Connah's Quay Nomads and Coleg Cambria scholarship programme is based at Deeside Coleg Cambria and been built around the American student athlete model with football being used as the motivator for players to excel both on the field and in the classrooms.
Unlike other football scholarships where all players must take the Level 2/3 sports course only, our female scholars will have the opportunity to take any Level 2/3 diploma offered at the college as well as any AS/A Levels.
The next academic year will be the seventh year of the Coleg Cambria Deeside multi-million pound A Level facility, which has been a huge success with even more A Levels available to players than any other college or school in Wales.
All successful applicants who gain a place on the Nomads Ladies Scholars full time program will receive a minimum of three sessions per week including pitch, strength & conditioning and analysis sessions. All of these will take place prior to and after college time and ensures no interference with academic work whilst training professionally in the world of football.
All fixtures will take place on the Deeside Stadium and The Quay 3G surfaces, which ensures top class playing facilities for all training sessions and games over the campaign. Players will be clearly identified in college and will always wear Connah's Quay Nomads tracksuits and training gear in the week both in the classrooms and when training with the club's kit partner Nike. As well as this all players will be gaining full gym memberships to Lifestyle Fitness as part of the programme which would usually be a £360 yearly fee, which players will get for free.
Players' performances in the classroom is pivotal and if successful in gaining a place, all players sign up to an agreement with certain academic minimum standards. This includes certain criteria such as 95% attendance as well as maintaining grades set by college staff. If these are not met the player will be unable to train or play until they are back on track academically.
This is an elite level program limited only for 15-20 players for next season, who are currently in Year 11/12 and going into Year 12/13 in September 2021 - an incredible opportunity for any female athlete with aspirations of progressing in the professional football game whilst combining a top level academic qualification in their chosen field.
All interested players are asked to apply via e-mail with a footballing CV including home address and current school attending to Head of the Scholarship program Jordan Parry on: jordan.parry@the-nomads.co.uk
Along with this we will be running an open evening at Coleg Cambria which will take place on Monday 12th July at Deeside Sixth, which is open to all girls who maybe interested including current Year 10 students who may wish to apply for 2022.
Open trials will then run on the following dates all at The Quay 3G, Connah's Quay High School, CH5 4BH
Tuesday 13th and Thursday 15th July 2021
16:30-18:00
Director of Football and Founder of Nomads Academy Coleg Cambria Scholarship Program Jay Catton had this to say on the new Ladies Scholarship Program;
"This is a huge statement of intent from Connah's Quay Nomads and Coleg Cambria for the future, along with a massive progression and opportunity for North Wales Ladies football.
This is one of the first of it's kind, female focused full-time football programmes, which will enable top-level female youth players the opportunity of full-time football combined with academic studies at a top-level college in Coleg Cambria Deeside, with an academic path that suits each individual student-athlete.
Seven years ago we founded the boys scholarship programme, which has gone from strength-to-strength, now boasting 40 male scholars per year with over 30 having gained international honours, numerous first team appearances - just under 100 graduates went into full time employment or university with 15 gaining scholarships in America.
A huge thanks to Martin Williams and Vicky Edwards of Coleg Cambria who have been integral in aiding the next level of the Connah's Quay Nomads and Coleg Cambria partnership with the Ladies Scholarship programme.
An incredibly exciting programme which I have no doubt will be a game changer in Welsh Women's football and an amazing opportunity for any aspiring young female footballer."
