A young footballer was named Player of the Year by her coaches at the Norwich City Girls’ Centre of Excellence presentation evening held recently at Carrow Road.

Elizabeth Way, aged 10, from Ditchingham, was selected for Norwich City Girls under 11 squad having previously had outstanding seasons for Bungay Town Girls and Sprowston Girls U10s teams.

This season she has enjoyed pitting her skills against the under 11 teams of Arsenal, Millwall, Lincoln and MK Dons along with an Easter tour to the North East for games against Teeside and Sunderland.

Making the presentation her coaches, Joe Harvey and Connor Kerry, praised her dedication, ability to adapt her game and the number of spectacular goals she has scored.

Elizabeth, a striker and attacking wide midfielder, said: “It has been a lot of hard work with two training sessions every week in Norwich and a lot of travelling getting to many of the away games, but playing against some of the best young players in the country and the excellent coaching has definitely improved my game. My highlights were scoring away to Arsenal, a last-minute long range equaliser against Cambridge, a hat-trick away to Cambridge and an action-packed tour.”

Elizabeth would like to thank South Norfolk Council for the funding she received from its Community Sport Achiever Grant which helped with the cost of training and supports young, talented athletes help achieve their potential in their chosen sport.

Due to a re-organisation of girls’ football, the Girls Centre of Excellence will no longer be operating and as a result Elizabeth will be returning to grass-roots football next season.

However, the Community Sports Foundation, based at Carrow Road, who have delivered the Girls’ Centre of Excellence for the past 17 years is setting up a new three-tier Football Development Plan and the FA is setting up an Advanced Coaching Centre which will lead to a regionalised Centre of Excellence, both of which Elizabeth hopes to be part. Details of how aspiring girl footballers can become involved can be found from the CSF on 01603 761122.