CHELSEA APPOINTED CBFC ACADEMY GIRLS MENTAL PERFORMANCE COACH

CAPE BRETON FC alumni player and coach Chelsea Currie has been appointed the CAPERS Girls Academy Mental Performance Coach for Season 2025.

Chelsea grew up as a young soccer player on the island before developing into a successful CBU CAPERS student athlete and then Head Coach of the CBFC U18AA Girls.

Now living and coaching in Ottawa, she is a Canada Soccer C Licence holder and Certified Mental Performance Consultant.

As part of the newly designed and professionalised Tier One program provision, Chelsea will deliver four key topic monthly sessions to the U13s, U15s and U17s Girls squads within the CAPERS Academy.

Mental Performance is a vital area of Player Development in the girls’ game and CBFC feel Chelsea is the perfect fit for this crucial role.

She said: “My own story began at home in Cape Breton, where I developed as a high-performance athlete competing in USports National championships.

“That means that my #1 value is authenticity; honing in on my upbringing in a community that was built on grit, character and sacrifice.

“I feel this allows me to foster a no-excuses mentality and an appreciation for being the underdog.

“One of the cornerstones of my work is the idea to Become the Only.

“This to me exemplifies a desire to be more than the best. Striving to be the only assures that you bring your authentic self to the surface and put your individual strengths and unique contributions to your sport first.

"Cape Breton players and coaches have been making an impact on the game at the highest level for a long time in university sport.

“Now that there is a women's professional league starting in 2025 (NSL) right here in Canada, I want to support CBFC players to strive for opportunities that they might not have envisioned for themselves before now." 

With all six CAPERS Academy Girls and Boys teams at U13s, U15s and U17s aimed at Tier One soccer in Season 2025 the new-look programs include three field sessions a week, Mental Performance work, Strength and Conditioning and in-depth video analysis for both teams and individual players.

Currently the young CAPERS have an outstanding 22 Provincial players involved in the Team Nova Scotia programs which is an excellent number for a rural club.

Regional Director of Soccer Development Iain King stressed: “We can’t rest there, we need to ensure that every young soccer player on Cape Breton island has the same if not better opportunities to succeed and grow than their counterparts in the HRM.

“There is no reason we can’t work together to provide them with that. We have top-class facilities and a true Championship culture on our doorstep with the CBU CAPERS Varsity soccer brand.

“In 2023 Cape Breton FC was hugely proud to be one of only 20 clubs to be chosen in Canada for Year One of the prestigious TELUS SheCANCoach program which was launched to help promote more Women’s coaches in the game.

“We are thrilled to be back in Year Two of that project and I feel that appointments like Chelsea’s are critical in the development of the girls within our Academy.

“She is a magnificent role model who understands the unique obstacles they face as young athletes on the island and her input will be game-changing in their development.”

• OUR picture shows Chelsea in her happy place on the field in her CBFC days, if you want to find out more about her work now go to https://coachcurrie.com/