AFC Sudbury Academy captains Ted Penn and Paige Clemenson heading to Clayton State University and Concord University in ground-breaking scholarships for Suffolk club
AFC Sudbury Academy’s male and female captains are both celebrating signing American university football scholarship forms in ground-breaking moves for the King’s Marsh club.
Paige Clemenson will be the first female graduate to play and study in the States while Ted Penn is the trailblazer for a transatlantic progression from AFC’s Youth Development Phase (12-16 years programme).
The pair have taken the number of Sudbury players earning themselves USA scholarships into double figures.
Versatile forward or attacking midfielder Clemenson, 17, will take up her place to study health and fitness management at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, in July. And versatile defender Penn, 18, is set to join up with Concord University in West Virginia in August, where he will study sports management.
AFC Sudbury Academy director Danny Laws said: “We made Ted and Paige captains within their academy age groups and for them to go on and achieve this is just really, really exciting for us and something we are very proud of.
“These two will also put us into double figures as well as they will be the ninth and 10th players we have sent over to the States and it is life-changing for these kids.
“Every single one of them that is out there now I keep in contact with and their stories of what they are doing are fantastic.”
The first two girls joined AFC Sudbury’s full-time academy programme for the 2018/19 academic year ahead of the club launching a separate female section in the following 2019/20 term.
And Laws believes there will soon be others following in Celemson’s footsteps.
“Paige being the first girl will open up those doors, I am sure,” he said.
“Paige is a great girl and a good player. Like with Ted, Paige will put her English stamp on the game over there and that is what they are looking for.
“She is another good organiser, a highly competitive player and she is a big reason why our girls academy has been doing so well this year.”
He said Penn, who joined the club as an under-16 in a side that won the Eastern Junior Alliance, can be a beacon of hope for others at the club.
“We have a lot of kids in our Youth Development Phase who want to come to the academy and going to the States and playing soccer is a goal of theirs, so it proves you can do that,” he said.
Of Penn, who will be going over as a left-back and led the club to the Suffolk Junior Cup Final in 2019/20, he said: “He’s an old head on young shoulders, that’s for sure.”
Romford-based Penn, who was captain of his Essex age groups, made his first-team debut last season, starting in the Velocity Trophy cup match again Bury Town.
This campaign has seen him lead the Yellows’ U18s to a club-record equalling second round proper of the FA Youth Cup, eventually succumbing to AFC Wimbledon last month.
He will be playing in NCAA Division 2 for Concord next season, and cannot wait.
“I opted to go to Concord as it was a four-year course, so I wouldn’t have to transfer after two years,” he said.
“The scholarship offered and the facilities were great and the coach was English which helps as he understands what football level I have been at.”
Clemenson, who was recruited to AFC from her local school, Clacton Coastal Academy, and plays for fourth tier Billericay Town, will also play at NCAA Division 2 standard. And it will be a dream come true.
“I have always wanted to go to America and play,” she said.
“The standard of play and opportunities over there are so much better (for women).”
A former sprinter, her video showreel she put together helped her attract more than 30 offers.
The former Capel Plough player said: “It was stressful but when I spoke to them it became obvious it was the one for me.
“The coaches were probably the biggest thing for me.”
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