2022 has been another hugely successful year for the Canberra United Academy.
Graduates Alexia Karrys-Stahl and Chloe Lincoln both earned their first top level contracts with United, while past alumni continued their trajectory upwards.
Young winger Hayley Taylor-Young had a breakout year and found her feet in a new role as a fullback, while Emma Ilijoski, Laura Hughes, and Karly Roestbakken’s careers continue to grow.
Roestbakken played her second season with Norwegian club LSK Kvinner and barely missed out on Matildas selection for the Asian Cup. Lincoln and Ilijoski, meanwhile, just featured for the Young Matildas in their victory over New Zealand. Lincoln also earned the club’s Rising Star award.
And while it was a tumultuous year on field for the club, the Capital Football pathways are as strong as they’ve ever been.
Capital Football Technical Director Phil Booth sees this success as an extension of the program’s core values and resources.
“Canberra United Academy is set apart from other teams not only by its all-weather synthetic training facilities, its training load and load management and through its continued use of GPS tracking, which is now available to all age groups,” he said.
“Supported by constant access to physiotherapists, sports psychologists and conditioning coaches, the link to Canberra United’s Liberty A-League team is seamless with the same club culture and values being displayed.
“Canberra United Academy prides itself on diversity with having highly accredited female and male coaching staff. Its coaches are in constant communication with Football Australia technical staff as we support and build stronger connections with FA National Teams. The Academy strives to continue to look at new opportunities to bring into the academy, to always give our players the best experience possible.”
As it stands currently, the academy hosts programs from the 9-12 skill acquisition phase all the way up to first grade football. This includes u13, u15, u17, reserves and first grade teams in the NPLW.
Watching players like Lincoln making their first starts for the Young Matildas shows the commitment the program encourages in all of its players all the way through to national level.
While she is one of the success stories, not every player goes all the way up. While it is a challenge to keep players engaged, those pathways outline a clear path to top level success.
“This is a key part of our club culture and values and is not only done through our players and parents’ engagement- we have a clear and transparent player pathway for our player from CUA to CU and hopefully onto the Matildas,” Booth said.
“We continuously place our players in the challenging environment for their own personal development in the team environment. This honest and open development process/opportunities create bonds both with the parents and players to create a great working relationship.
“This has the outcome that the players and parents feel comfortable within the academy and agree that the process/opportunity is in the best interest for their daughter to reach their full potential.”
The recent success of the academy team in the NPLW is another point of pride for Booth and Capital Football.
Canberra United Academy made the jump to fourth place in the competition last season. Fielding a strong side at the highest level of NPLW isn’t of vital importance, but speaks to the development of the players within the programs.
“The success of the Academy has many factors,” Booth explained.
“We look at developing the individual in the team environment, so we can have many different moments of success. For the individual is playing up and has success, for the team playing in finals and feeling the excitement and nerves.”
