By Frank Rodriguez, Women's Team Manager

We all become involved in football in different ways, and it was my two daughters' love of the game that got me working in the women's setup at Reading FC.

My playing career had seen me play semi-pro at Walton & Hersham and Moseley, but I finished over 13 years ago. At 30 I had my first daughter, Bianca, and a year or so later we had a second daughter Bella. At that stage in life, with two daughters, I thought my football days were over and that I'd be limited to watching Reading and Real Madrid, my two favourite teams, on TV.

But nine years later my wife came back picking the girls up from school one afternoon and asked whether I knew that Bianca plays football with the boys in the playground. And that she'd been asked whether Bianca wanted to go training with them for the local football club. To be honest, I was against the idea at first, but was open minded enough to let her have a go. Bianca was nine at that stage and I thought she'd give up after a few weeks, but nine weeks later she was still going.

Then I went to watch her, she was the only girl there. The guy who was running the U9s team had formed the club about 30 years ago and was now running the youngest team well into his retirement. I could see he was struggling and I asked whether I could help.

It all snowballed from there - I renewed my coaching badges, Bianca was spotted at a local tournament, Reading FC had just set up their academy, and she's been playing for them ever since. Bella plays for Reading girls. So it's become a family thing. I'm blessed really because my wife loves football and my two daughters play the game. And of course now I'm involved in the women's team.

My role with the Reading FC women's set-up is a multifaceted one. First and foremost I'm first team manager. But I tend to get involved in everything, from coaching of the team, to the general organisation. I've also been involved with Lee Herron and Mark Allen in developing the strategy of the club.

We put a three year road map together that would take us from the mid-point of the women's football pyramid, through to one of the top women's teams in the UK. And I'm pleased to say that we've progressed totally in line with that plan over the last couple of years.

The other side to my role is that I have been involved in sponsoring the women's set-up financially as well. That involves putting a bit of cash in and generally helping out.

This season we've had a fantastic start. Coming off the back of promotion last year, we chose to really stretch ourselves in the summer and play some tough opposition in pre-season. We played competition above us and punched well above our weight. Portsmouth narrowly missed promotion to the top flight and we beat them 5-0 just before the league started and had great games with Chelsea and Brighton.

Pre-season we entered Arsenal's international soccer festival tournament in London - teams from all over the world. We ended up playing Brighton in the final, one of the Southern Premier Sides, and we beat them 5-1 to win the tournament. So that's a good indicator to show where we are at.

Only one team gets promoted this season, and if we manage it we'll be in the Southern Premier League, just one level below the top flight. If we do that we'll then be considered a really good side. At the moment we are top of the league, unbeaten and the top scorers in the league. So it's a very, good start and we need to keep the momentum.

Our other objective is to develop good players. We already have two England u17 internationals in midfielder Kayleigh Hines and centre-half Sahara Osborne-Ricketts. And there is also an England u19 midfielder, Natasha Caswell.

In the past, the Reading FC girls Academy spent time developing young players who all left when the Academy finished, and end up at clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea. But now, and this is the first season that it has been able to happen, we have nine graduates, two of them u17 internationals, helping to form a proper Reading FC women's team. So as we go forward, the ambition is that we develop more internationals from the Academy who will grow into our women's set-up. That will enrich and strengthen the side moving forward.

The commitment and dedication of the team is a big factor in our success. We are progressing from grass roots to much more of a professional set-up. The only constant has been change. And we hope there is more to come as we continue to develop.