A SCHOOLGIRL has proved she has a safe pair of hands by netting a place at a Premier Division football club's School of Excellence.

Young goalkeeper Jodie Leigh-Woodburn, from Morecambe, has beaten off other hopefuls to be selected for the Blackburn Rovers academy.

The 12-year-old - pictured right - has played for Morecambe Youth Girls for six years and was snapped up by Blackburn on the recommendation of her Morecambe team manager Bob Fleetwood.

"I've always enjoyed football and now I would like to do it professionally. It is a great experience being at Blackburn as the training is top class," says Jodie.

"The best thing about the classes are that they focus just on goalkeeping and I get excellent coaching from Rachel. I think I will learn a lot from her."

She told the Citizen she became a goalkeeper more by accident than design.

"Whenever I played football with my boy cousins, they always used to stick me in goal out of the way. Then, I stood in in goal for a match once for Morecambe Youth under 12s and I ended up staying there," says Jodie.

The young hopeful, who still plays for Morecambe under 12s, takes her training seriously and also swims as often as she can to build up her stamina.

Mum Gaynor says: "We were really proud of her when she got in and we travel to Blackburn with her every Monday for training. She is very dedicated."