{"id":7047,"date":"2023-12-21T15:00:08","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T15:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/?p=7047"},"modified":"2024-03-15T15:07:26","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T15:07:26","slug":"made-in-the-adran-leagues-elen-valentine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/news\/made-in-the-adran-leagues-elen-valentine\/","title":{"rendered":"Made in the Adran Leagues | Elen Valentine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be where I am now at the start of this year. I wouldn\u2019t ever have thought about anything like this.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fair to say 2023 has been quite the whirlwind for goalkeeper Elen Valentine. Rewinding back to the start of the year, and Valentine found herself midway through the Genero Adran Premier season with Aberystwyth Town, who narrowly missed out on a place in the top four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was hard because we targeted the top four at the start of the season,” she says. “In the first half there was a lot of gelling, and it was a bit of a transitional period for us, with players coming and going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a lot of youngsters too, but when we lost Elin Jones, that was massive for us; that was difficult. But in the second half, we proved why we deserved to have been in the top four.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The keeper was pivotal in the Seasiders\u2019 campaign, her first with the club. Valentine set new boundaries at Park Avenue, as she became the club\u2019s first female scholar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opportunity to be a scholar in itself was too good to turn down, but a move to West Wales was also a chance for her to rediscover her love for the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know Emily Thomas and I was at Birmingham City at the time going through a difficult period playing football; I just wasn\u2019t enjoying it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI went to see Em on holiday, and she told me one day, you should come to training. It was pre-season so I thought I could do with training, so I went down, met Gavin Allen and he told me more about the project and the university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was looking at moving from Birmingham anyway, but as soon as the offer and possibility of going to Aber came up, I stopped looking at everywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Valentine\u2019s season was nothing short of spectacular, as she kept vital clean sheets and played a starring role in many games. As a result, she broke into the Wales U19 setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With good performances and international call-ups, interest began to swirl around Valentine, with big clubs demanding her services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victors in the end were Newcastle United, and it\u2019s fair to say the goalkeeper jumped at the chance to head to the North-East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was massive when their offer came in, because Newcastle is a massive club and with what they\u2019re doing on the women\u2019s side, it was almost a no-brainer for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only are they at a really good standard, but they also offer me a bit of stability. Financially, they\u2019re not going to be in a position where other female clubs could be, and that means no matter what, I\u2019ve always got that level of reassurance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got two years left at university as well, and moving here means I can knuckle down and crack on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining the Toon Army, Valentine hasn\u2019t been short of minutes, appearing for the development side, as well as playing for her university team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A standout moment during her short time at St. James\u2019 Park so far has been Newcastle\u2019s run in the FA Cup. Now, in the third round, they have been drawn against Manchester United.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tie of course gives Valentine a chance to come up against fellow Welsh shot stopper Safia Middleton-Patel, and the Lionesses\u2019 Mary Earps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were absolutely buzzing watching that draw,” Valentine says. “I don\u2019t think we stopped running around the room for about ten minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGetting that opportunity for a team like Newcastle who are wanting to be where United are is a chance for us to see where we\u2019re at and see what we can do against a team in the WSL. I think it\u2019ll be a tighter game than most people think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You only need a brief chat with Valentine to understand and see just how much she is enjoying life in Newcastle. Yet, there is still a connection within her to Aberystwyth, a town where she has so many fond memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m still in touch with some of the girls like Kelly Thomas and Lucie Gwilt. I\u2019m hoping to get to watch them away to Wrexham, that\u2019s the most likely one that I\u2019ll be able to get to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always look out for their results, and its class what they\u2019re doing this season. Gav has given the youngsters a chance, which is what he\u2019s been wanting to do for a long time, and they\u2019re repaying him and proving him right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of players in that team that, when I was there thought that this season, they could make it their own, and they have. I\u2019m so proud of them all. They\u2019ve got a lot of talent for such a little place and they\u2019re keeping up with the big teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just feel like an adopted Aber local. I said when I left that, no matter what, I\u2019ll always be green, and that still remains. I miss them a lot and hopefully I\u2019ll get back down there at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has only been a brief synopsis of the manic year Valentine has gone through, but there\u2019s no doubting she\u2019s gone from strength to strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Aberystwyth and the Genero Adran Premier, the keeper certainly wouldn\u2019t be where she is now, and she\u2019s thankful to have been a part of something rather special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Adran Premier has been a lifesaver for me. Coming into it, I had been low in confidence and struggling so much with football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBirmingham was good, but I had bad experiences there too, but the Adran Prem gave me a platform where I could just express myself and enjoy my football. As a young player, no matter where you are, all you need is minutes, and the league is a great place to get that game time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou see with players like Liv [Francis], Phoebie [Poole], Lily [Billingham], just how much of a springboard it actually is, and the growing exposure the league is getting, it really does get your name out there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that people don\u2019t see it as somewhere like the WSL, but instead, a place where you can progress yourself. The standard and level of players in the league are really good, and it\u2019s only going to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be where I am now at the start of this year. I wouldn\u2019t ever have thought about anything like this.\u201d It\u2019s fair to say 2023 has been quite the whirlwind for goalkeeper Elen Valentine. Rewinding back to the start of the year, and Valentine found herself midway through the Genero Adran […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":250,"featured_media":6988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ftr_img_focal":{"x":0.5,"y":0.28},"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"class_list":["post-7047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adran-premier"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7048,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7047\/revisions\/7048"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}