Mark Wotte believes the success of Scotland women’s U-17s will be an inspiration for the country’s national youth teams.
Scotland reached the UEFA Women’s U-17 Championship Finals for the first time after a 2-0 win over Finland in their final elite round qualifier on Monday.
Last month, Scotland U-17s and women’s U-19s reached the elite rounds of their respective UEFA tournaments, while the U-19s begin their qualifying campaign against Latvia tomorrow.
The Scottish FA’s Performance Director is optimistic that this is just the beginning of an exciting period for the national youth teams.
He said: “The progress made by the women’s U-17s is fantastic.
“Scotland were the fourth-ranked nation in a tough group, containing Hungary, Norway and Finland. To go over to Hungary, play three elite round matches, and win the group was a great achievement.
“It shows that time and effort invested in a well-structured training programme with long-term goals will reap rewards.
“The Scottish FA is committed to creating higher standards of performance across all of our national youth teams and success like this shows we are on the right track.
“Both the women’s U-19s and the U-17s have reached the elite rounds of their respective tournaments this year, so another finals appearance is within our reach.
“The achievement of the women’s U-17s can act as an inspiration for the players in those squads and across the age groups.”
Scotland will compete at the eight-team UEFA Women’s U-17 Championship finals in England in November, led by coach Pauline Hamill.
The former international striker has worked with the women’s U-17s for the past three years, and is also the elite performance coach at the Scottish FA’s Women’s National Performance Centre at the University of Stirling.
Wotte said: “Pauline was a very experienced international striker – winning more than 140 caps – and is able to share that valuable knowledge with her players.
“She is a young coach, who is developing really well, and should take great credit for guiding her squad to the finals.
“The experience of playing in a tournament like this will be excellent for their future development, and I’m excited by the prospect of some of these players moving through the pathway to win caps at A squad level in the future.
Read more of Mark Wotte’s blogs at http://performance.scottishfa.co.uk
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