Jaymee Dudley, front, cannot wait to get started in the all-female soccer academy being run by her father, Graham, back.
By Gavin Staindl
LOCAL soccer coach Graham Dudley says he is overwhelmed at the response he has received since opening Victoria’s first female soccer academy in the City of Casey.
Over 80 soccer enthusiasts have already signed up to take part in the state’s first female-exclusive soccer academy, aimed at developing girls in Melbourne’s south-east.
The academy, based out of the Casey Comets home ground in Cranbourne, is being run by three coaches who combine for nearly 100 years of playing and coaching experience.
As the academy organiser, Dudley said there was an important need to develop the core skills of Victoria’s elite and novice female soccer players.
“You see these girls on the park and while they are enthusiastic and capable at game-play, they lack what I call the core basics,” Dudley said.
“Of all the girls I’ve spoken to from Women’s Premier League players and W-League to the players right down to the under-9s and under-10s, I can categorically, 100 per cent, say none of them has been told how to stop or kick a ball.
“There are the core basics involved in the repetitiveness in stopping a pass and kicking a ball, but no-one stops these players and spends an entire couple of sessions saying, ‘this is how you kick a ball long, this is how you curl a ball, this is how you stop a ball in movement’.”
In 2005, Dudley, a native of Scotland, opened England’s first all-female soccer academy and was inundated with girls wanting to sign up.
After nearly 30 years of experience as a player and coach, Dudley believes he can make a similar impact in Melbourne’s south-east.
“Because of facility restrictions, when we opened England’s first all-female academy in 2005, we could only accept 60 girls … and in two hours we had filled those 60 spots,” Dudley said.“Girls just want to train with girls.”
While Dudley said his academy, Premier Soccer Centres, will be aimed at improving the basic skills of Victoria’s elite players, he has also allowed space for girls who have never seen a game of soccer.
“Players who have never kicked a ball can come along and players playing in the WPL are also welcome,” Dudley said.
“We will have mixed age groups from under-6s to under-9s, then after that the age groups will be open to women.”
