For Chloe Tape – passionate follower and player of football, student on the BSc (Hons) Sports Psychology & Coaching Sciences degree, and captain of BU’s varsity women’s football team – landing a placement at AFC Bournemouth in the year of their promotion to the Premier League was a dream come true.
“I feel really lucky to have this placement at such a great time for AFC Bournemouth. We are constantly busy and the guys I work with are really brilliant. It’s great to be in a Premier League team and to get to experience the buzz around the club.”
Chloe works on two main projects in her role with AFC Bournemouth’s Community Trust: running PE sessions for local primary schools as part of the Premier League School Support Project and heading up the Female Football Development Programme.
“This placement is going to help me determine whether or not I want to go into the coaching and development side of the sport. I absolutely love what I’m doing at the moment, so I can see myself doing something very similar once I graduate.
“I’d love to go into high-end coaching for women’s football, so potentially at university or academy level. I’m quite passionate about women’s football and encouraging girls to stick with the sport.”
This ambition ties in nicely with her work on the Female Football Development Programme, which aims to keep girls aged 14 and over engaged with football and to help them progress. Chloe feels as though her work at AFC Bournemouth is setting her up well for a career in football.
“From an organisational perspective, I’ve taken a lot from this job, but I think the network I’ve developed will really help me after university, as I now have links that can hopefully help me in my future career.”
But it isn’t only through her placement that Chloe has benefited from BU’s partnership with AFC Bournemouth – she’s also seen the positive impact of the club’s Community Trust on BU’s women’s football team.
“Having the support from the trust for the past two years has been great and we’re already seeing the benefits, with getting promoted and being in a cup final last season.
“We’ve had quite a successful start to this season as well, even though we’re in a new league with new challenges and that’s all down to the support we’ve had from AFC Bournemouth and the university coaching team, which is amazing.”