16 year old Harriet Lambe has officially accepted a fantastic sports scholarship opportunity and will be joining many other female student athletes at Bridgwater & Taunton College whilst playing football for Yeovil Town Ladies FC.
Harriet, who has captained the Republic of Ireland at international youth level, will begin studying at Bridgwater & Taunton College from September, and will be signed to our partners Yeovil Town Ladies FC as an FA Women’s Super League female football player.
Harriet’s scholarship is fully funded and not only includes access to all of her academic hours and over 13 hours of training per week, but also supports her with full board accommodation and meals, as well as training kit, fees and transport.
A football scholar such as Harriet will receive daily sessions, to include technical, tactical, strength and conditioning, physio, analysis and nutrition. All day time sessions are based at the College’s Bridgwater campus, with additional club training also incorporated into her weekly schedule.
In the 2017 FA WSL Spring Series season, the average age of the Yeovil Town Ladies team was just 21, and in the last three seasons 17 players have progressed from a development squad in to the first team.
This year will also see Harriet and her college team mates play in the ECFA Category One Elite League, the highest division of college football in the whole country. This highly commended college games programme, together with FA WSL and FA WSL Development Team football through YTLFC, will mean that she will receive at least 30 games in a season, all to a very high standard, along with elite professional coaching on a weekly basis.
Harriet, who was at the Bristol Academy Centre of Excellence from U10s, moved across to Southampton FC’s Regional Talent centre at U16 age level, but when she was just 13 years old, got called up to her first Ireland camp with the U16s. Since then, she has gone on to achieve further caps for her country.
Speaking about her scholarship she said,
“Looking at my college options and wanting to play football at the very highest level, I visited Bridgwater & Taunton College and Yeovil Town Ladies FC. I realised that this partnership gives me the best opportunity to develop as a player whilst studying for my chosen career in sport.
Everyone at the College and club have made me feel very welcome. The facilities and their attention to detail on the course which I’m looking to study are first class. I can’t wait to join in September.”
Pictured above is Yeovil Town Ladies FC Sports Scientist Ewan Greenhill, who has been working with Harriet Lambe already on her individualised pre-season training programme.