Ten aspiring students from Warrington secondary schools were given the opportunity to spend the day with Manchester City’s women’s team as part of a joint initiative between the Club and recruiting experts Hays.
Hays is the Official Recruitment Partner of Manchester City and facilitated an opportunity for female students excelling in sport to spend a day with the recently crowned Continental Cup Winners. The day was organised by The Challenge Academy Trust (TCAT), a multi-academy trust of schools in Warrington providing opportunities for students.
Students taking part were from the five secondary schools in the trust including Beamont Collegiate Academy, Penketh High School, Bridgewater High School, Padgate Academy and Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School. Girls in year eight with exceptional sporting abilities and a keen interest in football were selected by their Head Teacher to take part.
Pupils began the day with a tour of the Etihad Stadium where they were shown round the venue. They were then taken to watch the women’s first team training session and got the chance to meet all the players. Students were delighted to each receive a football which was signed by the players.
The day aimed to offer students valuable insight into professional sporting careers and inspire them to continue playing football throughout school and beyond.
Speaking of the day, Chris Burbidge, Director of Sport and Performance at Sir Thomas Boteler Church of England High School said: “To be invited to Manchester City Football Club through the partnership with Hays was an opportunity we could not let pass us by. For me, colleagues and the students it was both inspirational and aspirational. To meet the women’s first team and find out what makes them a global brand as well as a successful professional team was really interesting.
The experience opened the students' eyes to the different roles and careers available within sport. Thank you again to everyone who made it happen.”
Graeme Lovelady, Senior Business Director at Hays Education who attended the day on behalf of Hays, said: ‘’The Manchester City women’s training session experience was a brilliant day for both myself and the students. Many pupils aspire to be professional footballers and they were thrilled to meet the players and watch them train.
The players signed shirts and footballs and Manchester City gave all of the students gifts to take home. It is safe to say that all the students found the event to be a once in a lifetime experience and went back to their schools grateful to be part of the TCAT and Hays partnership which facilitates such events.’’
Steph Houghton, Manchester City captain, who took time out to speak to the students, added: “As a young player, an opportunity like this would have been a dream come true for me. Women’s football is on the rise and I hope more and more girls get involved in the game and that days like these help inspire them to keep on striving to reach their goals.”
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For more information contact:
Helen Flannery, PR Manager, Hays
T: +44 (0) 203 0400 282
M: +44 (0)75 5579 70401
E: [email protected]
About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2018 the Group employed 11,700 staff operating from 262 offices in 33 markets across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2018:
– the Group reported net fees of £1.072 billion and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £243.4 million;
– the Group placed around 77,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 244,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 19% of Group net fees were generated in Australia & New Zealand, 26% in Germany, 24% in United Kingdom & Ireland and 31% in Rest of World (RoW);
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA
About Manchester City women’s team
Formerly known as Manchester City Ladies FC, the club was founded in 1988 by City in the Community. In the 30 years since then, their affiliation with the men’s team has taken various forms, culminating in the statement of a formal partnership with Manchester City in August 2012. The Club was granted entry to the FA Women’s Super League in April 2013 and subsequently re-launched as Manchester City Women’s Football Club in January 2014.
The Club mirrors and benefits from its association with its male equivalent and is structured in all aspects of its operations to take advantage of the resources of the wider organisation – from community programmes, to youth development, scouting, coaching, sports science, digital coverage and first team football operations.
In their inaugural season under Head Coach Nick Cushing, Manchester City Women’s Football Club made history when they clinched their first ever trophy, the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) Continental Tyres Cup. In 2016, Manchester City Women won the FA WSL Continental Tyres Cup for a second time, the FA WSL and played in the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time having qualified in the previous season. In 2017, the team went on to win the Club’s first SSE Women’s FA Cup, securing all three domestic titles within a year.
Today the team, which includes multiple England internationals, play their home games in the 7,000 capacity Academy Stadium at City Football Academy, the facility which they share alongside the men’s and academy teams, both girls and boys.
In June 2016, having received status as a Tier 1 Regional Talent Club from the FA, the Club opened their girls’ academy, which now provides elite training for over 80 aspiring young players from U10 to Development Squad level.
For more information, please visit www.mancity.com