Football Futures
The Football Futures Programme aims to recruit, retain, develop, reward and provide a progressive pathway for young leaders in order to develop a skilled football workforce.
The Programme covers the following six themes:
• Coaching & Working with teams.
• Refereeing.
• Running Events.
• Running & Developing the Game.
• Promoting the Game.
• Respect.
Participants are encouraged to gain experience across the themes as opposed to sticking to just one. This programme is open to anyone who has an interest in Leadership & Volunteering through Football – You do NOT have to play football to be on our programme!
Suffolk FA Football Futures Group
The group will have opportunities to develop their skills, knowledge and connections and have access to various training workshops and courses.
Suffolk FA will be able to offer Young Leaders in our Football Futures Group a variety of placements within our Tesco Skills Centres, Player Development Centres and Charter Standard Clubs.
National Young Leaders Camp
The FA organise a National Young Leaders Camp where County FAs are invited to send 2 young leaders, one male, one female, from the County FA group (They have to be aged 16 or 17 on the date of the camp).
There are lots of opportunities available to young people who wish to become involved in football through Suffolk FA and the Football Futures group provides a great stepping stone to future success especially for those Young Leaders looking to go into a career within Sport!
Case Study: Kelly Scrutton
I started coaching when I was 14 as I needed to do some volunteering as part of my Duke of Edinburgh Award. I helped to support the coach of the Saturday club at Copleston, teaching young girls basic football skills. After I completed my Duke of Edinburgh Award I carried on coaching at Copleston. I started to help deliver sessions at local primary schools.
At the end of my first year of coaching I was awarded the Suffolk FA Young Volunteer of The Year Award which I received at the Suffolk FA 125th anniversary dinner. I turned 16 early in my second season of coaching at gained my Level One as soon as I could. I then was asked to sign up for the Football Futures Programme, which was in its first season at the time. I attended every event possible and continued coaching at Copleston during the season. I also gained experience helping the FA Tesco Skills Team with their sessions. During this season I also asked for my first lot of work experience at Suffolk FA which was a valuable experience.
Following this season I was asked to become an Ambassador for the Football Futures Programme in 2011/12. During this season I had to give up playing football due to a health problem which made coaching my priority and meant I dedicated quite a lot of time to being an Ambassador. I love being an Ambassador and all the opportunities it brought me. I did over 200 hours of volunteering last season which meant I was given an England ticket to go and see England v Belgium at Wembley.
This season we have planned events such as County Camp which was a huge success and have gained a lot of valuable knowledge. To my surprise I was nominated for Suffolk FA Young Volunteer of The Year again and I received this award at the President's Lunch when I was also told I had been nominated for the East Region Award which I aslo won so I am now waiting upon news of the National Award! This was somewhere I never expected to find myself! This season I hope to be a mentor for next season's Ambassadors so I can influence the programme to go on to bigger and better things!
Case Study: Luke Norris
I became an Ambassador for a few reasons. One reason is because how much experience and knowledge I will gain from it. It has helped me to create new ideas for training and to develop the players as well as developing any ideas I had before. This great opportunity offers more great opportunities which can only benefit me in the future and I will learn from every occasion that I get whether it be good or bad. It also gives me a chance to help other leaders to progress and hopefully have as much help and chances that I have had to get where I am now. I also joined it to try and increase my confidence as a coach and generally. Since joining the programme my confidence has never been higher and I grab every opportunity I can.
This year I hope to learn more about other roles in sports other than just coaching so that I can see if there are any other paths I an interested in taking within sports. I would like to learn more about anything to do with football that I can be involved in so that I can expand my scope. I also hope to get new friends along the way that I can help learn and vice versa.
I have only been involved in the Football Futures Programme a year but it shows that if you work hard at something then you can achieve anything. In my first year I've been to National Camp, become an Ambassador, I am a member of the Suffolk FA Youth Council and taken advantage of the coaching scholarship! I have achieved so much but that is down to going to many of the camps put on by the Football Futures Programme. I have been to the County Camp which led me going to the National Camp which was amazing and I will never forget. I have also helped out with the Grassroots Football Festival and FA Women's Super League National Roadshow which aimed at promoting women's football.
I volunteer every week at my local club to help and am assistant coach to a team but may be in the process of running my own team. I also help volunteer in schools and help other coaches to teach PE because getting as much experience as possible is important in sports. I have recently been offered the coaching scholarship which will also me to build as a coach and to develop and hopefully achieve more and maybe even leave a legacy. The volunteering has helped me increase my confidence which has helped me in all aspects of life. I already had my FA Level 1 before joining Football Futures but since on the Football Futures Programme I have had the help and confidence to go and complete my Youth Modules 1 and 2 and am looking to do my FA Level 2 in the near future. Also thanks to the National Camp I have started to take up refereeing. This will be my first season as a referee and I can only referee because I never had the confidence before.
Some of the Ambassadors from last year's Football Futures Programme have been selected as mentors. I would like them just be there and to help whenever help or advice is needed. I hope to learn more about refereeing from them and more about planning and running camps and tournaments. I will look for things that I can use next year when I will become a mentor.
For more information about the Suffolk F.A Football Futures Group and how Leaders, Clubs, Schools and anyone else who is interested can get involved then please contact:
Nathan French (Football Futures Lead Officer)
E-mail: Nathan.french@suffolkfa.com
TEL: 07432735987
The Suffolk FA new and improved Football Futures leadership and volunteering programme for the 2012-13 season has been launched and we would like you to be a part of this year’s programme.
If you signed up on our database from previous seasons and hopefully you would still like to be involved! To be part of the programme you need to be volunteering in a local football club, within the community or in a local school.
We are looking for young leaders interested in gaining valuable footballing experience in the following six themes:
- Coaching & Working with teams.
- Refereeing.
- Running Events.
- Running & Developing the Game.
- Promoting the Game.
- Respect.
This year the Football Futures Programme will include the following FREE events around the six footballing themes for Young Leaders: SAVE THE DATE
- Working with Teams (Tuesday 19th February)
- Suffolk FA Football Futures County Camp (Tuesday 9th April)
- Careers & Awards Evening (Monday 3rd June)
- National Leadership Camp (2 Leaders selected from Suffolk)
Log Books:
Young Leaders will also be entitled to a number of rewards including t-shirts, rain jackets and course bursaries as you begin to log your voluntary hours. You can log any hours you have volunteered from July 1st 2012.
Placements:
If you need a placement in your local community then please do let us know!
Any questions then please do contact me on the details below:
Nathan French (Football Futures Lead Officer)
E-mail: Nathan.french@suffolkfa.com
TEL: 07432735987
I look forward to seeing you at the next camp!!
