Rehanne started her career in football playing from a young age for the likes of Middlesbrough and later Leicester City. In her early twenties, injury combined with the desire to drive the team at LCFC to greater heights meant playing took a backseat. Rehanne’s interest in coaching started early and after a short stint in the US she took her first full time position at Leicester City as their Female Development Officer after having worked there throughout University. Rehanne worked her way through the coaching ranks at Leicester City for eleven years becoming the FA Girls Centre of Excellence Technical Director, Girls U19 Academy Director, Community Manager and Women’s 1st Team Manager.
The structure for elite girls development at Leicester City was a driving force in the midlands under Rehanne’s management with a great number of girls attaining international experience during her tenure. Youth development was a key focus for Rehanne in sustaining a competitive club at the top end. She also managed the Women’s team to four successive promotions to the Women’s Premier League.
In 2009, Rehanne passed her A license which coincided with being selected by Hope Powell earlier that year to become one of the England International staff working with the U15 England Women’s team, a position she held for four years until moving abroad. As part of her role within the FA she also lead the Elite Performance Centre in the Midlands which provided continuity for player development into the U15 international team.
In June 2010, Rehanne was headhunted for Arsenal as Assistant Manager, where she worked for three seasons alongside Manager Laura Harvey (current Seattle Reign Manager- USA). During her time at Arsenal, Rehanne coached Jayne Ludlow, one of the significantly experienced players, in what was a highly successful period for Arsenal. They achieved two FAWSL titles, two FA Continental Cups, one FA Cup and reached two UEFA Champions League Semi Finals.
Rehanne commented on their Arsenal success ‘the team was very experienced and it was a great challenge for me. We worked hard to be successful on and off the field, players were dedicated, serious athletes that still wanted to learn and the desire to win was phenomenal. Between them there was over 500 international caps. It was significant. Obviously Jayne (Ludlow) was one of that group.’
Rehanne moved from Arsenal to coach in Florida for a different challenge as Elite Lead Development Coach for ages 13-19 before being head hunted by Wales Manager Jayne Ludlow to become Assistant Manager, U19s Head Coach and U17 Assistant Manager.
Wales Womens National Manager, Jayne Ludlow said ‘Rehanne has years of experience and an abundance of knowledge when it comes to international age groups and top level women’s club football. She was the ideal person to help develop the women’s and girls programme in Wales, taking it to the next level on all fronts.
‘Rehanne has developed women’s and girls teams structures in the UK and abroad and is a very knowledgeable and an extremely qualified coach who will endeavour to bring the best out of all our players within our elite female player pathway.
‘She will be working alongside me within our weekly national player development programmes and our youth academy set up along with covering all the responsibilities of an assistant coach within our international teams environment and leading the U19 team.
‘I’m extremely happy to welcome Rehanne on board with our ambitious project of developing all our elite female players in Wales.’
Rehanne said ‘It’s an opportunity to really build something, something worth while and get something in place that makes the country really competitive. To work with elite players on an international stage is something that I always really enjoyed. My career path has always put me down the elite player route and it was exciting to come back and get straight to it with the Women’s team away to Kazakhstan. I’m looking forward to the road ahead.
‘I’ve had a lot of experience with the players over the years, in particular when I was at Arsenal, most of them were the opposition! There wasn’t many of the players that I hadn’t previously seen which helped as I knew what they were about on the field, but off the field I knew little so developing those relationships was important especially given that we had the game so quickly after I arrived.
‘Developing the youth structure here is vital so players have an obvious pathway, experienced support network and the right environment to become an international footballer. I have built a competitive youth structure before and have experience that I hope will help Jayne and the FAW achieve their vision. The Women’s team is different, the players are experienced and as a country there are aspirations and desires to progress in the Euro’s. As a group we need to get the finer details right tactically, and spend the time building team performances that we can be pleased with, that will be my focus.’
Pictured – Jayne Ludlow and Rehanne Skinner
Source / photo – faw.org.uk
