Chesterfield F.C Girls Centre of Excellence last week held their first presentation evening at the Old house function room in Chesterfield. Over 100 people were present to cheer the news that the Chesterfield F.C had retained the Girls Centre OF license for Derbyshire

It has been an unsettling time for the Centre who were engaged in a battle with Derby County ladies to secure the right to run the Girls Centre of Excellence and development programme for Derbyshire.

The new FA initiative will see more funding for the Centre who will now take Derby's place in the Central Midlands Centre of Excellence league and also train twice weekly.

Last seasons Centre Director Stewart Rowley was delighted with the news " As I said at the parents meeting the club do not have the best recourses but they do have a big heart and their support was a big factor in our success,  I would also like to thank the players, parents and our coaches for their patience , support , and understanding during this difficult period, we have moved on at a great pace during the last two years and now with janes arrival and the promise of more financial support from the FA we can  take another giant leap forward towards our vision of creating the ultimate girls centre of excellence"

Jane Ebbage will take over as Centre Director with responsibility for player and coach development while Stewart Rowley will become Centre Manager with a responsibility for long term development. Jane is one of only a handful of fully qualified female coaches in the UK and has a long pedigree within youth development. She began her coaching career in Chesterfield and under her guidance the girls Centre of Excellence produced a number of international youth players. The most notable of these is Josanne Potter who now plays in the women's Premier league for Charlton Athletic and is hoping to make the England squad for the forthcoming women's world cup in China later this summer. Although Jane gave up her full time role at the FA in 2006 in order to concentrate on other projects the lure of coaching proved to be too strong and Chesterfield FC are delighted to have been able to secure her services for the foreseeable future.

Jane herself is relishing this new and exciting challenge with her home town club, seeing it as a chance to draw upon all her experience in order to provide a development programme of the highest caliber.