The Wellington Phoenix are proud half a dozen players from the academy’s fledgling women’s programme have been training with the New Zealand under-17 women’s squad in Auckland this week.
Daisy Brazendale, Ella McMillan, Georgie Furnell, Lara Smith, Olivia Ingham and Rebekah Trewhitt have been taking part in a week-long training camp overseen by NZ U17 women’s head coach Leon Birnie.
Brazendale, McMillan and Ingham are fulltime members of the Phoenix academy, while Furnell, Smith and Trewhitt join the women’s programme two nights a week.
All six are part of the academy’s women’s development group, which is made up of Football Ferns, and under-20 and under-17 internationals.
They are coached by academy technical director Paul Temple and play matches on Wednesday nights.
On top of the women’s development group, the academy has an under-16 women’s team which plays in the boys’ 15th grade competition in Wellington.
In 2023 the academy plans to have a full women’s pathway on offer for aspiring players.
