July 2011
Trust helps young people Get Started with Football
Eleven young people got the opportunity to
take their first step onto the coaching ladder by participating in
The Trust's Get Started with Football programme at the Oval,
Belfast.
The week
long programme - delivered by the Glentoran ‘Our Club, Our
Community’ Programme - aims to give young people the skills and
confidence to move into coaching grassroots football by guiding
them through the Irish FA’s ‘Grassroots Introductory Award’ and an
extensive training course on the fundamentals of coaching.
The young people also got the opportunity to undertake various
awareness courses associated with grassroots football including the
Irish FA’s ‘Safeguarding Children and Young People in Football’ and
FASA’s ‘Give Drugs the Red Card’ Campaign.
In addition to learning new football coaching skills the young
people also developed a number of essential skills, including
communication, teamwork, planning, time-management and
self-confidence.
One of the participants, Stephen from East Belfast, said;
“I have really enjoyed my week at Glentoran. I am a big
Glentoran supporter and the chance to participate in the programme
and learn the basics of football coaching was a great
experience.
I learned so much, made some new friends and
now I am really keen to get more involved in coaching at my local
football club.
Christopher, also from East Belfast, said:
“I thought the programme was really interesting and enjoyable. I
have never coached anyone before, but it was great to get involved
and learn new skills. I would definitely be interested in
developing my coaching skills and volunteering to help coach
children at a local team or youth club.
Ian Jeffers, Director of The Prince’s Trust in Northern Ireland,
said:
This programme proves that with a bit of
support and encouragement young people can achieve their
aspirations and with our continued mentoring we will help each of
these young people into training and education opportunities over
the coming weeks.
"A big thank you to Glentoran’s ‘Our Club, Our Community’
programme and for all the team that have delivered this very
successful programme, the model we have developed here can be
rolled out to any club in the Province.”
To celebrate the achievements of the young people they got the
opportunity to play an exhibition match at the Oval against a
Prince’s Trust Select XI that included Chris Lyttle MLA and former
Glentoran player Chris Walker. The Young People won the match
2-1.