The Toon Army and the NFDS have been playing host to Dutch student Maxime Jackson for the past ten days.

Maxime, aged 16, comes from Gendt in Holland and has been on a work placement with the Newcastle City council`s football development scheme, Maxime has been staying at her grandparent`s house in Tynemouth.

As well as getting first hand coaching experience working alongside NFDS coach Lisa Bell, Maxime has also studied how the football development scheme operates on a daily basis in the schools etc, Maxime has trained on the evenings with the Newcastle United reserve squad as they prepared for their final game of the season at Aston Villa.

Maxime has been playing football from the age of 8 and plays midfield for her club RKHVV, she supports Newcastle United and her favourite player is Steven Gerrard.

Maxime hopes to play on a scholarship one day in the USA but her main ambition is to join the Air Force and become a pilot.

And what have been the highlight`s of Maxime`s stay? "I have really enjoyed the whole experience, the most memorable moments were the trip to Nottingham to watch the Women`s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Leeds and training with the NUWFC Reserves"

Rob Atkin City council football development officer "It has been a really good experience for all of our players and the children on our coaching courses to meet Maxime, her english is excellent and she is a very good player and we hope that one day we can host her team here in Newcastle"

Maxime will return to her studies where she will deliver a presentation on the work of the Newcastle football development scheme and the links with Newcastle United Women`s FC.

Newcastle under 16s went into their final league game of the season against Norton & Stockton looking to secure another 3 points to end the season on a high.

In the previous encounter between the teams at the turn of the year Newcastle came away with all 3 points after an enetertaining game ended 3 - 1.

Both teams started the game very brightley and had chances early on, the black and whites made the breakthrough when Jodie Scott's defence splitting pass found Toni Laurie who made no mistake from the edge of the penalty area with a cool finish. This was a wake up call for Norton who went onto create goal scoring opportunities but could not capatilise on their possession as Newcastle's back line stood firm.

Newcastle scored further goals as Laurie completed a first half hatrick and defender Francine Hall scored her third goal in 2 games with a powerful header from a corner to make the half time score 4 - 0.

Laurie got her fourth goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half when she chipped the Norton keeper form 25 yards, Norton got a deserved consolation goal through Olivia Inman to make the final score 5 - 1.

The Newcastle FA-Licensed girls Centre of Excellence brought the curtain down on their season with a trip to watch this year`s FA Cup final between Arsenal and Leeds Utd.

Over sixty players and their parents made the trip to Nottingham Forest`s City ground to observe the top female players in the FA Women`s premier league at close quarters.

Rob Atkin FA Centre Director "We feel it is very important for their longterm development as players that our girls get the opportunity to see the top players in action, it was a very long day but they have had a fantastic experience and the Arsenal and Leeds players have gone out of their way to sign autographs and speak to the youngsters"

Atkin continues "Some of our under ten`s had never attended a live game before but came away buzzing, all of the Arsenal and Leeds girls have been a credit to their club`s and a great advert for the sport"

For more information on the FA Centre of excellence programme contact Centre Director Rob Atkin on 07817765046

Newcastle Under 16s played their final away game of the season at local rivals Wallsend knowing 3 points would guarantee them runners-up spot in the Northumberland Girl's League.

Newcastle broke the deadlock after 6 minutes when Toni Laurie ran onto a Sophie Chopra pass to beat the Wallsend keeper with a cool finish. More goals followed from Chopra 2, Francine Hall, Emma Phillipson, Jessie Coates and another Laurie strike to give the black and whites comfortable 7-0 lead at half time.

Their dominance continued in the second half with further goals from Hall, Coates, Phillipson, Jodie Scott and Laurie who completed her 5th hat-trick of the season to make the final score 12-0.

Newcastle have one home game remaining against Norton & Stockton and will be looking to finish the season on a high with another win.

Joint MVPs:

Sophie Chopra: Scored 2 spectacular long range efforts and had a hand in 4 goals with her excellent vision and range of passing.

Toni Laurie: An excellent all round performance cappped by 3 well-taken goals. Excellent delivery of set pieces which caused problems for the opposition.

Newcastle United are pleased to confirm that the first team and reserves have been accepted to play in this year’s 2008 Welsh International Super Cup.

The Welsh International Super Cup is one of Europe’s most renowned soccer tournaments, football icons such as Andriv Shevchenko, Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Shay Given and Thomas Rosicky adorn the all star graduate list from the summer showpiece in Aberystwyth over previous years.

The event will be staged at Blaendolau Playing Fields in Aberystwyth on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July 2008 on some of the best playing surfaces in Europe.

Rob Atkin NUWFC Head coach "We are delighted to be taking two squads to Wales as part of our pre-season preparations, it`s an exciting time to be part of our club, next season is going to be a massive challenge as we look to move up to the next levels on all fronts".

Pre-season friendlies are also lined up against Glasgow Celtic, Falkirk and Liverpool Feds with more to be confirmed.

The first year of the re-structured FA Centre of Excellence programme has produced it`s first group of graduates from the under 16 squad

Ten players who have attended the twice weekly coaching sessions and represented the Newcastle Centre in the fixture programme will continue their football education by taking the FA Level 1 coaching award as well as refereeing qualifications.

Rob Atkin FA Centre Director "The under 16 squad have been excepional this year and have set the high standards we expect for those coming through in future years, three of the girls have already achieved their first FA coaching qualifications and will come back to assist on next season`s programme"

Atkin continues "All of them will have a positive effect on local open age football with their enthusiasm and high levels of fitness, they are a credit to our under 16`s coaches, Melanie Reay and Ruth Sutcliffe".

Newcastle FA Centre of Excellence will be recruiting new players for the under 10`s, 12`s, 14`s and under 16 squads throughout June.

For more information or to request an assessment nomination form please contact Centre Director Rob Atkin on 07817765046 or via e-mail rob.atkin@newcastle.gov.uk

The Newcastle girls FA-Licensed centre of excellence programme held it`s end of season presentation event at Newcastle United`s first team training ground last night.

The evening marked the end of the first year of the coaching and education programme with the players receiving their FA Certificates of attendance presented by Kate Bradley manager of the Newcastle United foundation, awards were also handed over for the most improved players at all age groups and the coach`s player of the season from under 10`s up to under 16`s.

Simon Lunn, Principal Sports Development officer for Newcastle City Council presented the ten players graduating from the centre with special momentoes and limited edition training shirts.

Under 16 player Bethanie Gardener received the merit award for being the first Newcastle player to represent England at International level, Newcastle United club captain Jo Cartwright was on hand to present Beth with her award.

Rob Atkin FA Centre Director "It has been a fantastic first season for the programme, the players, parents and coaches have put in a tremendous amount of hard work to ensure the players have achieved a high level of performance, those girls collecting the awards have been excellent all season but they could not have reached that standard without their teammates"

The players from the centre of excellence will all be in Nottingham this weekend watching Arsenal versus Leeds Utd in the E.On Women`s FA Cup final.

The award winners for 2007-08 are as follows:

Under 10`s Most Improved player 07-08 Ellie Donaldson

Under 10`s Coach`s player of the season 07-08 Chloe Johnson

Under 12`s Most Improved player 07-08 Jasmine Trundley

Under 12`s Coach`s player of the season 07-08 Abbey Joice

Under 14`s Most Improved player 07-08 Jennifer Wilkes

Under 14`s Coach`s player of the season 07-08 Shannon Etherington

Under 16`s Most Improved player 07-08 Kayte Brookes

Under 16`s Coach`s player of the season 07-08 Stephanie Eadon

The Newcastle Centre of excellence programme will be holding a series of assessment sessions throughout June. For more information contact Centre director Rob Atkin on mob 07817765046 or via e-mail rob.atkin@newcastle.gov.uk