Staffordshire FA Young Leaders Camp

The Camp involved a whole variety of learning opportunities around leadership skills and key goals within The FA’s new strategy. The young leaders were put through whole breadth of football disciplines, from learning about coaching, refereeing, and team building, to general football development and further opportunities and support available to them within football.

The event was extremely well received by the young leaders, 20 of whom were selected to go on to the West Midlands Regional FA Camp which took place in April in Walsall. In addition to the County and Regional Camps, 2 young leaders from Staffordshire will also be invited to go to the National FA Young Leaders Camp in July. And to complete the exciting pathway that is now in place for young leaders who are volunteering within football, 4 young leaders who attend the National Camp will be selected to go to Africa to support The FA’s International Placement programme and help support and run festivals for children in an African region.

Pictured are 4 young leaders planning the organisation and delivery of a coaching session under the guidance of FA tutor Adam Ponsford.

Staffordshire FA Football Development Officer, Gareth Thomas, hailed the event a big success; “The 53 young leaders who attended the camp are all volunteering in some capacity within grassroots football, whether it be with their local clubs or within the school environment. Football relies heavily on the tremendous amount of hours and hard work which is put in by our volunteer workforce, particularly within leagues, clubs and schools and we want to ensure that the next generation of volunteers are given as much support as possible in their chosen discipline; whether it is within coaching, refereeing, or administration”.

He added; “The young leaders who attended the camp are doing some fantastic work within their local communities and the feedback we received off the back of the camp suggests that events like these provide them a few new ideas and helps them to grow in confidence when continuing with their volunteering”.

For more information on the FA young leadership programme, please contact Gareth Thomas on 01785 256994 or at gareth.thomas@staffordshirefa.com