There have been plenty of milestones for West Ham United Women’s Academy Manager, Stephen Opoka to celebrate during the 2022/23 season.
The 34-year-old took the role in October, having been involved in the women's Academy setup for over five years, previously holding roles such as Youth Development Specialist and Assistant Head Coach.
Now Opoka is in charge of developing the next generation of talent in east London, who know that there’s every chance they will be given an opportunity if they are good enough.
Indeed, the Hammers highlighted their commitment to giving youngsters an opportunity last week with the promotion of 16-year-old forward Princess Ademiluyi to Paul Konchesky's first team.
Ademiluyi is someone that Opoka has watched develop through the age groups since impressing in a trial at the West Ham United Foundation in Beckton.
“I remember clearly when she first joined at Beckton,” Opoka reminisced. “Physically she stood out straight away – I reckon she was probably the same height back then as she is now!
“It was exciting to see her come through the pathway, and it shows that we have got players who can stretch themselves and work through the age groups.
“But the hard work has only just started. She's got a sniff of what it’s like in and around the first team and now it’s a case of, earning, working and hopefully an opportunity presents where she can be in the matchday squad, but that’s down to what she does out at training and that’s down to the first team selection.”
The Women’s U21 Academy side have had a mixed bag of results this season, and currently sit seventh place in the Southern Division, a league that contains the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.
Opoka’s side have won five matches so far this season and have accumulated a record number of points since the team began.
Opoka believes that it’s been a good season so far for those that have been involved – a season that has enabled his players to grow and develop, whilst also experiencing some challenging moments.
“It’s been a really good season for learning,” Opoka said. “I said to the girls recently that this group has a hit a new record for the Women’s Academy in terms of, not just points in the league table but also the number of wins that they’ve now put together. They’re learning about what it takes to win, and that’s what the top professionals have to learn to do.
“We had a good start to the season, then we had a little bit of a tough time, a real challenging couple of months - credit to the girls, they’ve worked hard and have been able to get through the tough moments.
“In January the girls came back flying and focused and had learnt from the first three or four months of the season and they’ve really shown more development. And they’ve grown, not just as young people, but young adults they’ve now grown too, so I’m really proud of how they’ve done this season so far and I hope that will continue as we reach the end of the campaign.”
Being the Academy Manager brings with it certain responsibilities, and Opoka has found adapting to the role challenging, but very rewarding. The 34-year-old deals with everything from training to recruitment to organising travel to away matches.
"It’s been exciting and rewarding [to take on the role] but also challenging. To be honest with you it’s probably three roles in one that I’m doing, which is excellent because on a personal perspective I’ve grown and been learning all different aspects of the academy, growing on and off the pitch.
"It’s been so pleasing to have that relationship and the pathway with the first team, linking players in, linking their development of the program together, which enables our players to learn about the demands.
"Being able to collaborate across both teams has been such a nice thing. We’ve worked with the boys academy too when working out training schedules – it’s great to have the collaboration with all the different aspects."
For enquiries about the West Ham United Women's Academy, please email [email protected]
