Hogan-Belcher reflects on U19s start to the season

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Head coach looks back at the past year and looks ahead to 2024 for our Albion youngsters.

Heather Miller

2024-01-05T05:00:00Z

Sinead Hogan-Belcher feels great pride for her U19 squad following a strong start to the season.

It's been a competitive season so far for the U19 squad, and they'll be looking to maintain those ambitions for the remainder of 2024.

The U19 department have strengthened their backroom staff with Jeremy Sauer being appointed Women and Girls' Academy manager back in August.

Sinead said, "I'm really happy with the staff, we've got a strong group around us now. We've probably have one of the best staff groups in the country.

"We have seven full-time members of staff with the U19s and we're so fortunate to have that at the club. I look around the other academies and think we are ahead of them in terms of what we can provide these girls."

Danielle Bowman returns to Albion as assistant head coach for Girls' U19 alongside Sinead Hogan-Belcher.

Former captain Danielle Bowman returned to Albion after joining as assistant head coach alongside Hogan-Belcher. The 35-year-old has achieved her UEFA A Licence and coached in the WSL with West Ham United last season.

"I'm really excited to work with her [Bowman] because she brings an element to the staff group that we don't have," added Sinead. "She knows the the effort that it's going to take for these young people to get to the place they need to.

" She gives that element of realism in terms of what it takes to become a first-team player, a real perspective that is straight from the pitch."

Facilities

"The facilities are out of this world. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask am I actually working for the same club that I started at. The evolution in terms of how we've grown has been incredible."

Season so far

It's been a solid first half of the season for the u19s and they have two semi-finals locked in with the Sussex County Cup and League Plate.

The youngsters have also already won silverware this season having lifted the Nike Cup final after beating Tottenham Hotspur.

"Getting into the finals of these cups is really important for us, we've spoken about in the changing room," added Sinead.

"The girls are really focused on that. It's important to expose them to winning more and letting them know that it's okay to want to go and win and to be aggressive out there as well."

Sinead says it's important for her players' development that they get the opportunity to train with the first-team squad.

"Something that is a big push for the U19s is getting that opportunity to go into first team training. We work with Mel [Phillips], Perry [Northeast] and Nikita [Runnacles] and there's ample opportunity again for girls to go in there - that's the best part of being at Brighton."