Middlesbrough Football Club In The Community

SPORTS Leaders are at the forefront of a drive to improve community health in the north east of England. Aimed at teenagers who are not in education, employment or training, the Healthy Towns Initiative has taken off since its launch last year. Now the young people – many of whom have struggled in the mainstream education system for years – are moving onto further education and considering careers in sport. Stacey Burke, of Middlesbrough Football Club In The Community which is responsible for the project, explains more. “We use sport, and particularly football, to educate and promote a healthy lifestyle,” said Stacey. “The Level 1 Award Sports Leadership fitted in perfectly with our goals of trying to reach out to some of the young people who may have slipped through the mainstream educational net. “We only had 24 places available on the 15-week course, so each candidate was interviewed before we even started. The ultimate aim was to help them gain access to vocational work experience and gain some recognised qualifications while being positive role models for other young people in the town.” The candidates were taken through an induction period and were tested on basic skills. Their personal development was also monitored, with equal opportunities, anger management and employability skills among the focus topics. “Some of them were challenging to work with at first and there were times I wondered what I had let myself in for,” admitted Stacey, “We had a few drop-outs early on, but once they began to realise the benefits of what they were doing, you could see the confidence start to grow.” The Sports Leaders devised training sessions for primary school children in the area, and were allowed to use their own initiative in deciding interesting and varied programmes. “They weren’t set any limits when it came to drawing up their sessions,” said Stacey. “They decided on the types of motivational phrases they would use, they decided how they would warm up and warm down and they decided what sports to focus on, from boxercise to badminton.” And despite coming from a variety of backgrounds, the candidates all responded positively to the stimulation of the course. “One young lad was just 17 and lived on his own,” said Stacey. “He had never achieved academically, but to watch his ambition explode once he got some confidence was really rewarding. He is now actively looking to move into a career in sports coaching.” Middlesbrough Football Club In The Community will be taking another influx of candidates this year and is hoping to expand the programme to include the Level 2 Award in Community Sports Leadership. “The idea is to make the project sustainable,” said Stacey. “We want the candidates to take away what they have learned and come back and use their skills to teach others about the benefits of a healthy active lifestyle. The Sports Leaders UK courses are crucial in helping us achieve that.” Ends.