Young Football Volunteers Take the Lead

23rd April 2010

Young leaders from across Cumbria recently took part in the second County Leadership Camp organised by the Cumberland and Westmorland County FA's.

Young volunteers who attended the free event have been assisting in local Charter Standard Clubs or schools. The keen young leaders participated in sessions focussing on developing coaching skills, refereeing and the important work behind the scenes that often goes unnoticed.

The event was kicked off with 3 young leaders talking to the group. Beth Rosary, Kim Lupton and Charles Bowman delivered the opening presentation following their attendance at The FA National Camp last year. The trio were chosen from the 2009/10 County Camp to represent their respective Counties at the prestigious week long FA camp at the University of Warwick and gave a candid account of their experiences and what it meant to them. With all three continuing to volunteer in their respective clubs, the trio were great role models to start the event.

All leaders were then placed into small working groups and were tested in a team building activity.

A visit from Cumbria Sports Partnership followed, with a presentation on marketing and roles within clubs. Coaching and refereeing are not the only aspects of volunteering with emphasis placed on 'behind the scenes support' in administration. Clubs would not function without this support and this presentation gave an insight into other opportunities to volunteer. The group also got the opportunity to interview each other on their experiences using the latest technology.

Darran Bowles, The FA's Regional Coach Development Manager then took the young leaders for a session on delivering coaching sessions to young footballers - giving ideas and taking questions about ways to deliver using examples from the new Age Appropriate modules.

A break for lunch was next on the agenda, followed by a workshop on referee development. Referee Development Officer Alan Young delivered the session, and with both qualified and non qualified referees in the group, the workshop focussed on various aspects of the refereeing element of the game including a practical demonstration.

Beth, Kim and Charles then delivered a goalkeeping practice, something that they had all experienced and enjoyed on the national camp. The volunteers were shown demonstrations of some goalkeeping practices before planning and delivering their own session (either focussing on the goalkeeper or the outfield) in their groups.

The Young Volunteers showed tremendous spirit and commitment throughout the day, especially with the wet and cold weather! The volunteers were a credit to their clubs and schools.

The feedback from the camp has been very positive and more are planned for the future. "I really enjoyed the day! Learned lots of new things", "The camp gave me some beneficial activities that I can take back to my club", "It made me more confident" and "I learnt a lot about coaching, refereeing and the roles of volunteers in a club, I would recommend it to anyone" are just some of the feedback comments we have received.

The County FA's are committed to supporting young leaders through the Step into Sport programme which gives young people the opportunity to volunteer within a sport of their choice. Local Charter Standard Football Clubs in the area are now seeing the benefit of young leaders who perhaps play in their older junior teams helping to train and develop the younger age groups. This ensures the clubs have continuity and role models to look up to when playing for their chosen club.

The Step into Sport programme is not just about coaching however; volunteers can assist with the administration side of football clubs as well as refereeing. For more details on the Step into Sport programme, please contact Helen Aitchison.