Successful stay for Young Leaders in Hereford.
Between 18 and 22 July 2011, the 100 most talented and dedicated Young Leaders aged 16-19, descended upon Hereford Royal National College for the Blind for The FA National Football Futures Camp.
Each County Football Association was invited to nominate one male and one female leader from their own Football Futures programme, who had made an outstanding contribution to volunteering within grassroots football.
The theme for the week was ‘Legacy’. Every leader was challenged to think about how they were going to go back to their own County FA and inspire other young people into volunteering.
The programme consisted of ten workshops including: 5-11 coaching, disability football, refereeing, media, Respect, football development, events, Futsal, equality and working with teams. The workshops were designed to test and develop the leadership capabilities of the leaders and to raise awareness of the many different opportunities available for young volunteers against each of the six Football Futures volunteering themes.*
The response from the leaders during the week was fantastic. On leaving, Faye Cook, 17, from Essex said: “I’ve gained so much from the week.
"Confidence, new coaching ideas and being able to speak and explain things more accurately. It was also really inspiring. Lucy May who ran the line in the Women’s FA Cup Final helped to run the refereeing workshop and it was fantastic to see a woman so high up in the game. After the camp, I definitely want to do the course.”
Andre Forrester, 16, from London added: “The whole week was amazing. It has shown me many different things involved in and around sport. I will take all I have learnt on board and going to take it back to my community college and get more people aware and involved. This camp should be recommended any young person who is involved in volunteering in football.”
The FA’s Education Project Officer Steve Swallow was the camp director. He said: “I think the general consensus from the staff throughout the week was that this is the best group of Young Leaders we have ever had attend camp. The standard seems to rise year on year, and that has to be due to robust County FA programmes that now support these young volunteers throughout the year.
"The aim of the Football Futures programme is to recruit and develop the next generation of volunteers who will support the grass roots game for years to come. Hopefully, everyone that attended camp this year will follow in the footsteps of those before them and inspire other young people in their community into volunteering in football.”
The new Football Futures programme launches in September 2012. More information will follow on this site shortly. If you are aged 14+ and would like to get involved in your county Football Futures programme, please contact your County FA by
clicking here.
*The 6 Football Futures volunteering themes that you can get involved in are: Coaching, Refereeing, Events, Running and Developing the Game, Promoting the Game and Respect.
