Prince’s Trust & Blackpool FC Community Trust
14th – 18th March 2016
The Prince’s Trust teamed up with Blackpool FC’s Community Trust to get young people involved with sport. The week commenced with 12 young lads, ranging from 16-24, with the aim of giving them a chance of a better career in the future. This was provided by the services of Blackpool FC’s Community Trust and their programme ‘Get started with football’. The week included five full days of fun related sports activities; An FA Emergency First Aid Qualification, Drugs Awareness Course, confidence building, employability skills and valuable coaching skills. These transferable skills were then used by the participants on thirty year four school children when they were asked to deliver a football session.
Will Cowell, who was representing the BFC’s Community Trust, took the role on leading the young men and teaching them football skills and drills in order for them to be able to deliver a successful session to a school PE class. The days commenced at ten o’clock and everybody was on time and very time-reliable, but this isn’t the only thing that the participants were able to achieve. They also developed valuable life skills by learning to wash up, looking out for each other and most importantly respecting one another.
Now the week has finished and all twelve participants have graduated with the Prince’s Trust, eight are successfully going onto the NCS (National Citizen Service) and then finishing with a traineeship. Two are going onto being volunteers with the NCS with a chance of going into the BTEC course at Blackpool FC Community Trust and the other starting an apprenticeship with Blackpool FC’s Community Trust.
” The course was something I gained a lot from, getting involved with coaching and meeting new people is something that I really enjoyed – Joshua O’Neill “