First AFC Sudbury Academy girls have bright futures ahead of them
Danny Laws has welcomed the first girls on to the AFC Sudbury Academy programme this year, and believes both are destined for the top of the game.
Eloise King and Amy King – who happen to share the same surname – have become the first females to sign up to the full-time two-year programme for a BTEC National Diploma Level 3 in sport.
The Free Press has previously reported on now former Sudbury Ormiston Academy pupil Eloise after first being selected for England at age group levels from 2015, capping a memorable season last year with a goal for the under-16s in a tournament match against Spain.
Amy was identified by academy chief Laws while he was working for Suffolk FA in the summer delivering a female-only FA Level One coaching course. And he believes both 16-year-olds have got great potential for a career in the game.
"Both Eloise and Amy have settled in really well within the group and have certainly added to the quality that we demand here," he said.
"Eloise has outstanding technical ability that we hope to harness in the two years she is with us at the AFC Sudbury Academy.
“We are working closely with her head coach at ITFC Joe Sheenan to form a programme of training that will benefit Eloise as a player and make sure she reaches her full potential.
“She trains fully with her male peers and has shown an excellent willingness to improve.
“‘Amy stood out as a student of the game from day one. I think she has the potential to be an outstanding coach and someone who we will look to develop along this pathway.”
He added: “I have no doubt that both Eloise and Amy will reach the very top. They both have the mindset of champions and have no fear entering our environment; look out for these two in the future.
“It would not surprise me in the slightest if we had a full senior international player and coach of the future right here in Sudbury.”
Eloise, a number 10 who has represented her country up to under-17 level, is a member of the WU21 East Region Academy based at Ipswich Town FC, which serves as the club side she trains and plays with.
She also has close links with AFC Sudbury having started out playing in the boys team at under-8s alongside fellow academy first-year Liam Bennett, while her grandfather Mick Mills is the current first-team kit man and long-standing director at the club.
Amy plays her club football as a centre-back for East Bergholt and combines the roles of playing with various coaching responsibilities. She currently heads up the Wildcats girls programme at AFC Sudbury as well as coaching the club’s Under-14s mixed side and at the Suffolk Girls Advanced Coaching Centre.
