Fulham Football Club can confirm that FFCW goalkeeper Chloe Bagshaw will be departing the Club shortly, having accepted an offer from Houston Baptist University in the US College system.
Bagshaw’s strong performances in a Fulham shirt this season, despite an interrupted year, impressed a number of University programme coaches in the US. With the offer of a position on the playing roster at the Texan Division 1 NCAA College, and a four-year degree in kinesiology, Chloe has made the decision to further her footballing career, and her education, overseas.
Chloe said the journey to sign with Houston Baptist had been quite a long one: “I filled out an online assessment, then we had a showcase in December 2019 and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of coaches and hear about the process and the opportunity out in America”.
Faced with a number of US universities interested in her services, Chloe said ultimately Houston Baptist were her first choice for a number of reasons: “They have the degree I wanted, the feel around the team and their collective objectives all together. And I like the look of the campus even though I’ve only seen it on Google!”
Bagshaw makes the move across the Atlantic well aware of how this opportunity serves as the next step in her football pathway. “That’s what drew me to the opportunity originally. Although you’re not considered a professional athlete because you are not being paid to play, besides that everything set up around it, the coaching, the staffing and what’s available to you is almost as much as a professional athlete.”
Chloe hopes to follow in the footsteps of a growing number of elite footballers to progress through the NCAA system. “My idea is to go out for the four year course then come back and work my way up into being a professional footballer here in the Women’s Super League. It’s a really good bridging point from where I have been to that level.”
While at Houston Baptist she will be facing the best footballing sides from universities from across Texas and other neighbouring states in a localised conference. From there, the best teams progress to nationwide NCAA playoffs, a hugely exciting prospect for Chloe. “I could be flying out to California and gosh knows wherever else!”
Balancing football and study will keep her occupied, with a full diary of classes and training. “I think college life will be very busy. They have a crazy training schedule, their only off day is a Monday and in season they have two games a week. Training a lot, the recovery side of that and then obviously I’m getting a degree at the same time so I can imagine free time will be limited.”
Chloe said her teammates have supported her decision to move abroad - “They have all been really great, especially after accepting the offer they’ve all been messaging me, saying congrats,” – and that she will look back at this stint at Fulham fondly. “Being with the team in general, there’s never not been a fun training session or never not been a game where we’re all laughing with each other. When we’re on the pitch you can tell how much we all want to work hard for each other and how much we have each other’s backs. The whole experience has just been amazing.”
While Chloe knows her next experience will be another huge challenge, it’s clearly one she is looking forward to. “Moving countries is scary but also so cool at the same time!”
Everyone at Fulham FC wants to thank Chloe for her time and efforts at the club and wish her all the best in the next stage of her footballing journey.
