Football Futures Camp inspires next generation of volunteers
The FA National Football Futures Camp 2015 brought 99 promising Young Leaders from across the country to St George’s Park last month.
Aiming to inspire the next generation of grassroots volunteers, they took part in a week of workshops in order to develop their skills and knowledge to take and give back into their communities.
This year the camp took place from 20-23 July and is planned and delivered annually in partnership with The FA National Game Youth Council.
For the first two days, the Young Leaders completed a series of workshops, covering a variety of topics including Futsal, promoting the game, refereeing, disability football and informal football.
These workshops enabled the Young Leaders to gain an insight and wider understanding into the range of opportunities that football offers.
Keila Tucker, a young leader from the Sussex County FA said:
"Personally I thought the generic workshops were eye-opening and made me aware of more parts within football that I didn't personally know of. Additionally, they also delivered a wide variety of information and helped boost my self-confidence in the early stages of National Camp."
During the latter two days, the youngsters undertook specialist training to develop and refine their skills in coaching, refereeing or ‘Youth Council' specialisms.
Connor Payton from Worcestershire County FA participated in the Youth Council specialism, focused around influencing others alongside creating action plans to ensure a community legacy after camp.
"I found it very inspiring to see tutors who have been in my position as a young leader to be given the opportunity to deliver on a national level due to their involvement with the Football Futures Programme," said Connor.
And Charlotte Savage from Norfolk County FA also enjoyed the refereeing specialism, commenting:
"The refereeing workshop and camp overall absolutely obliterated my original expectations. I can't put into words what it meant to me to be able to work with some of the top tutors in the country and I have definitely made some life-long friends."
Throughout the week, The FA National Game Youth Council promoted their ‘#SmileForJoel’ campaign in memory of Joel Richards, the chairperson of Birmingham County FA Youth Council and Level 4 referee who was tragically killed in the recent Tunisian shootings.
The campaign remembered Joel for his positive outlook on life and his ‘infectious smile,’ with over 130 #SmileForJoel ‘selfies’ taken and posted on social media alongside hundreds more messages to celebrate Joel’s life and legacy.
The final night of camp saw the summer ball take place, with evening activities including an auction and raffle in aid of The FA’s official charity partner, Breast Cancer Care.
The evening proved a huge success with the young leaders and staff managing to raise £1,254 for the charity in just one night.
And despite the week-long Football Futures Camp finishing, the impact is already being felt in the grassroots game.
Inspired by the camp, Peter Harding from Surrey County FA has started a campaign to try and get more media coverage for disability sport.
"After spending time in the youth council workshop, my team came up with the idea of a campaign aiming to increase media coverage of disability sport," he revealed. "I’m really passionate about disability football and National Camp gave me the opportunity to develop my ideas with like-minded individuals."
If you would like to be part of the next generation of grassroots volunteers and get involved in your local Football Futures programme, please contact your County Football Association or email Football.Futures@TheFA.com.
