The Power of Football to get even more kids moving!

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EFL Trust launches the third year of the +Sport Move and Learn Project, in partnership with Ferrero and local EFL Clubs.

Ferrero, EFL Trust and its network of 22 Club Trusts which include Sheffield United FC and Derby County are today announcing that they are embarking on the third year of their partnership to get even more children moving through a primary schools programme that uses the power of football to encourage children to take part in physical activity, while helping them to understand the importance of a balanced diet and an active lifestyle.

The +Sport Move and Learn Project is part of Ferrero’s global Kinder + Sport initiative designed to encourage active lifestyles in children across the world that has already reached over 15 million children. To date, the programme has been delivered locally by football club trusts in 776 schools, with 43,577 children impacted. To build on this success, this year 615 schools and approximately 37,000 children will be reached.

Over the course of six weeks, children from Year 5 classes spend 45 minutes in the classroom learning about the body, nutrition and the importance of exercise, through participating in interactive activities. The second half of the 90 minute session is dedicated to playing football, dodgeball or handball, with two weeks spent on each sport.

Anthony Jones, Ashgate Primary School, Derby has said “The Kinder + Sport Move and Learn project has had huge benefits to our school and pupils, educating them on nutrition and an active lifestyle. It’s great that the kids have enjoyed the physical activity which is so important at that age, and the variety of activities such as dodgeball. Look forward to more in the future!”

Football Players are key to the delivery of the Kinder + Sport Move and Learn Programme, offering a unique way of engaging children and delivering key messages. Sheffield United Community Foundation Health Ambassador, England U21s and Blades goalkeeper George Long, is a huge supporter of the Kinder + Sport Move and Learn Project, saying “It’s vital that we educate children from a young age on a healthy diet and encourage an active lifestyle. The Kinder +Sport Move and Learn Programme is a really fun and interactive project engaging thousands of children each year. I’m extremely proud to be able to support such an important programme”.

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A spokesperson from Ferrero said: “Since launching Kinder + Sport in the UK two years ago, we have moved over 100,000 children as a result. Active children are more likely to grow into active adults, so we are passionate about inspiring future generations in communities across the UK to get active and live well. The EFL Trust is the perfect partner; football clubs are at the heart of their communities and engage and inspire people from all generations – and this is exactly what we want to do with Kinder + Sport in the UK.”

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Mike Evans, Director of Operations at the EFL Trust said: “We’ve been working with Ferrero for three years now and seeing the programme go from strength to strength is incredible. The power of sport and the club badge allows our network of community trusts to deliver key messages, such as tackling obesity, to reach out to the wider community. This investment in helping to get future generations living well is invaluable and we look forward to continuing to work with Ferrero and our own network.

Clean Sweep for Wigan Athletic Community Trust

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Wigan Athletic Community Trust took home all of the spoils at the recent USW Foundation Degree in Football Coaching & Development awards evening. Along with the big awards, the outstanding students from each club involved in the foundation degree were awarded for their hard work, as the programme celebrated another successful year.

As well as being named Club of the Year for the second year in a row, two members of the Community Trust’s teams were highlighted for their individual work on the course; Chris Baxter as Student of the Year and Adam Sherratt as Club Mentor of the Year.

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Six coaches from Wigan Athletic Community Trust have spent the last twelve months studying year one of their degree, with nine completing their second year and one completing his third, whilst they all also worked and volunteered as sports coaches for the Community Trust.

Tom Flower, Head of Community at Wigan Athletic Community Trust said: “We are extremely proud of the hard work that everyone involved with the University of South Wales degree has put in this year and to be acknowledged by receiving these three awards highlights their achievements.”

“Not only have the coaches successfully completed year one of their degree, they have all continued to deliver high quality coaching throughout the year across a number of our projects.”

Adam Sherratt, Education Officer for the Trust, said: “When we won Club of the Year last year, I said that we wanted to continue the good work with our second set of students; to receive three awards is a real credit to the effort put in by everyone involved with the course.”

Jay Probert, course leader for the foundation degree at USW added: “We have been really impressed again with how the students have performed on this programme all across the country, with Wigan Athletic again setting the standards in how they support their students to achieve in their academic studies and also in their work based learning”

The foundation degree is delivered by the University of South Wales in partnership with EFL Trust, with students combing their Higher Education with work placements at 32 EFL clubs.

To find out more about the University of South Wales foundation degree, please click here.

Congratulations to the following students, who won student of the year on the night for their respective clubs:
Liam Yates – Blackpool FC
Dumisani Madhlazi – Brentford FC
Emily Stephens – Bristol City FC
Jimi Brock – Bristol Rovers FC
Connor Richins – Burton Albion FC
Daniel Clark – Cardiff City FC
Georgia Smethurst – Carlisle United FC
Aaron Lowe – Cheltenham Town FC
Christopher Hill – Crewe Alexandra FC
Niall O’Grady – Derby County FC
Brian Noble – Grimsby Town FC
Joseph McCann – Liverpool FC
Ieuan Baldwin – Newport County FC
Billy Warburton – Nottingham Forest FC
Luke Clarke – Portsmouth FC
Luke Prior – Portsmouth FC
Josh Tomlinson – Preston North End FC
James Payne – Rotherham United FC
Zach Meadows – Scunthorpe United FC
Jordan Wildey – Sheffield United FC
Josh Blunkett – Sheffield Wednesday FC
Ryan Lockley – Shrewsbury Town FC
Josh Harkness – Southampton FC
Tyler Maloney – Southend United FC
Christopher Baxter – Wigan Athletic FC
Jack Bowser – Wolverhampton Wanderers FC

 

A Gold Medal for NCS Teens

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Young people in Doncaster received an inspirational visit from a gold medal winning Paralympic hero last week.

The group of teenagers who are on the National Citizen Service programme (NCS) in Yorkshire and Humber, were visited by former Team GB Paralympic gold medal winner Liz Johnson.  Thanks to a partnership with Dame Kelly Holme Trust, over 1000 teens on NCS have been inspired and motivated by Paralympian Champions. Club Doncaster Foundation is one of the providers that deliver programme in these areas.

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Liz Johnson, was one of many athletes to visit the programme this summer, delivering a workshop to over 120 teenagers from Doncaster. The former Paralympic Swimmer is one of Wales’ most successful Paralympians winning medals in Athens, Beijing and London.

The workshop delivered was fun and engaging, with a purpose to inspire and motivate young people, linking back to the goal setting. The group also took part in interactive team building activities that they found very useful when working on their social action projects. Liz also spoke to the young people about her life story and the journey she went on to becoming a Paralympic medallist.

Liz commented: “Our inspirational programmes are all about supporting young people from all backgrounds to work together, take on new challenges and make a difference. The young people on NCS made fantastic progress in such a short space of time. I can’t wait to hear about how the attitudes and skills they’ve developed impact positively on the success of their social action projects.”

The workshop delivered on behalf of Dame Kelly Holmes Trust have been inspirational to young people.

Jodi Parkinson, who took part in the workshop in Doncaster said: “I really enjoyed the team building activities with Liz and Dam Kelly Holmes Trust, it was amazing to see everyone try and do different things and really push themselves. The workshop has been great and it was very inspirational to meet someone who has achieved so much!”

For more information about the programme please visit www.ncsefltrust.co.uk.

16-18 and love football?

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Love football?

If you have always fancied the chance to represent your club playing for EFL, Premier League, or National League clubs, and you are 16-18 years of age, studying towards a BTEC in Sport with EFL Trust Futsal could be the perfect programme for you!

The BTEC in sport is worth up to three A-Levels and will be studied over the course of two years. In order to gain entry onto the course, applicants must have a BTEC Level 2, or four A*-C GCSE’s including English and Maths. Most importantly though, you must have a passion for football, and a desire to progress to university and work in sport in the sports industry in thee future.

This revolutionary course will allow you to use an online platform, along with study in the football club, which has proved successful in previous years, with 89% of students rating this unique learning environment as excellent.

When it comes to exit routes from this course, the possibilities are endless! Ranging from university education both in the UK and overseas, such as the EFL Trust Community Football Coaching & Development Foundation Degree to careers in the sports and leisure sector. The course provides a variety of skills, some of which are transferable. Students have progressed to employment within their football club, whilst others have pursued Soccer Scholarships in the USA.

A driving force in developing the world’s fastest growing sport in the UK. Future stars continue to emerge from the EFL Trust Futsal programme, with many players catching FA National League & England scouts’ eyes. Frequent call-ups to England Development squads are a testament to the programme’s production of talent.lilywhites futsal

England International, and Futsal graduate Joe Kenny commented “The EFL Trust Futsal programme was great for me. It’s different from school and I just felt motivated to learn. You’re studying at a professional football club, the one I’d supported since I was a toddler. You learn using an online platform but you’ve got lots of support. Then of course you get to pull on that club shirt and represent your team against other professional clubs. For me it opened up a path into the higher levels of Futsal, regional development squads, England Under 19’s, Under 23’s and finally into the full England Team. If you said to the 15 year old me that I’d end up going to university, he would have laughed at you. Yet only a few years later I’m studying at a top university and I’ve represented my country.”

By combining your education with something you love, you could not only excel, but pursue a career that you are extremely proud of, and enjoy every minute of it!

Places are filling fast so for more information or if you would like to apply, please click here.

A-Level Graduate & Football Fanatic?

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Got your A-Level results and not sure where to go next?

Are you a football fanatic?

The University of South Wales offer a degree that was created with you in mind! The Foundation Degree in Community Football Coaching and Development was designed in conjunction with the EFL Trust, and will equipt you with knowledge about children and youth coaching, sport coaching, football development, social inclusion, and sports management skills.

What’s better, you will be based predominantly within your own football club, with a minimum of five days per year at the USW Sport Park, our £3.7m state-of-the-art coaching and performance development centre, and will be enrolled as a student at the University of South Wales.

Completed within the professional football clubs, you will undertake a work based learning programme in year two, providing opportunities to gain experience in areas such as social inclusion, school and grass root club development, football development, and coaching.

You will also study towards your Level 2 Football Coaching Certificate and will have numerous opportunities to undertake additional vocational awards.

For more information and to apply for the course, please click here.

 

 

 

The Joy of Moving!

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Working with our network of EFL Community Trusts we have ‘moved’ over 27,000 kids through the Kinder + Sport Move and Learn project this academic year.

Now in its second year the Kinder + Sport Move and Learn Project has had an increase in delivery hours to 243,000, and more importantly 60% more kids have been moved compared to last year. Over 450 schools have benefited from this programme, knowing that the educating children on nutrition and physical activity is vital from a young age.

By combining six weeks of practical sporting sessions with classroom sessions, the programme encourages physical activity, promotes nutritional education and builds awareness of the importance of a healthy diet and active lifestyle.moveandlearn21

Aiden Couch, Project Manager at the EFL Trust is delighted with the growth of the programme; “Since we launched our partnership with Kinder + Sport in the UK in 2013, we’ve been delighted to see our work grow significantly in scale and impact. In partnership with Ferrero we are tackling pressing issues such as inactivity, obesity and the lack of understanding about nutrition and balanced lifestyles.”

Football is used throughout the programme as a unique way to engage kids, allowing us to project the key messages across to the community. During the football season, schools and pupils are invited to their local professional football club on a match day to take penalties at the club mascot during half time… a memory that kids won’t forget too quickly! As well as that, football players from the clubs take time out to visit schools and talk to pupils about the diet of a professional athlete followed by carrying out a Q&A session.

Chris Baird, Derby County’s Captain, visited Ashgate Primary School alongside Derby defender Ryan Shotton. Baird Comments, “It’s important for any kid growing up to get the guidance from teachers and parents, but we too can have a role to play in assisting kids in making the right choices for themselves.”

Anthony Jones, Ashgate Primary School “The Kinder + Sport Move and Learn project has had huge benefits to our school and pupils, educating them on nutrition and an active lifestyle. It’s great that the kids have enjoyed the physical activity which is so important at that age, they particularly enjoyed the variety of activities on offer such as dodge-ball!  We look forward to delivering more Move and Learn to our students in the future!”

The Kinder + Sport is just another example of how the power of sport can help tackle societies issues.

From Rejection to International Honours

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Joe Kenny is an England International, degree student, and a great example of how the EFL Trust Futsal programme can make a difference to people’s lives.

Joe was released by Leeds United aged 15 and in his own words ‘just mucked about at school.’ He now has 7 England Futsal caps to his name, is one of the rising stars of the game and is currently studying for a degree at Loughborough University. However, as he explains not too many years ago it appeared his life was heading in a different direction.

“I’d been with the Leeds United Academy since I was 9. At 15 I was released and it was devastating at the time.  I’m a Leeds fan and I was living the dream but it just didn’t work out.  What made things worse was that I’d just messed about a bit at school and didn’t get the grades. Basically school did not feel relevant to me. I’m into football, I love playing and sitting in the school classroom I wasn’t particularly motivated and I as a result just didn’t do that well.  So my qualifications aren’t great and my football dreams are seem like they are over and I was just left wondering what on earth do I do next.”

“Then I saw the EFL Trust Futsal and Education Programme which offered me a lifeline. It meant I could still continue to play and represent Leeds, Importantly the course would give me a qualification, a BTEC in Sport and Active Leisure, which could open up a path into further education or employment.”

“The EFL Trust Futsal programme was great for me. It’s different from school and I just felt motivated to learn. You’re studying at a professional football club, the one I’d supported since I was a toddler.  You learn using an online platform but you’ve got lots of support. Then of course you get to pull on that club shirt and represent your team against other professional clubs.  For me it opened up a path into the higher levels of Futsal, regional development squads, England Under 19’s, Under 23’s and finally into the full England Team.  If you said to the 15 year old me that I’d end up going to university, he would have laughed at you. Yet only a few years later I’m studying at a top university and I’ve represented my country.”

Mark Dick the EFL Trust, Futsal Manager, comments, “The course is ideal for people like Joe, who love sport and aren’t particularly motivated by the academic environment and as such didn’t do too well at school. By using sport as a focal point it’s provides a way to ignite a passion for learning. Many students then go onto university or straight into employment. That’s the main focus of the programme, however an ever increasing number of our students are finding their way into the regional development squads and more are likely to following Joe’s footsteps and play for the national team.”

Grecians Delight With National Finals Win

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The fifth and final National Finals Day at the International Futsal Arena in Birmingham took place on Thursday with ten teams split in to two groups all playing four matches in a round robin to advance to the semi-finals.

In Group A Southampton won all four matches and only conceded 2 goals to finish top on 12 points, they were followed closely behind by Bristol City who finished on 9 points, their only loss to the Saints. Mansfield Town finished in third with 6 points while Sheffield United and Preston North End both finished on 1 point respectively.

In Group B the final placing came down to the final round of matches with Grimsby Town topping the group on 9 points having lost their only match narrowly to Sheffield United , in second place Exeter City and Plymouth Argyle both finished on 7 points but in was Exeter who had the better goal difference to book their place in the semis. In fourth place were Sheffield United on 4 points and Chelsea finished fifth on 1 point.

Down to the Semi Finals and The Grecians played the in form Southampton but City produced some great attacking futsal to win the match 3-0, in the second semi final Grimsby Town who were coming in to form at the right time on the day beat Bristol City 3-2.

In to the final and the first goal went to Exeter City with a great move finished in style, they held the lead for 10 minutes before Grimsby Town equalized with 7 minutes remaining. Three minutes from time and it was all still square until City scored with 2 minutes left on the clock. It proved to be the winner after great defending and some outstanding saves from the Grecians keeper in the last minutes of play.

Another great day of finals, thank you to all the players, coaches and referees for some great Futsal.

Lilywhites prove invincible

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Another day of quality Futsal came to Birmingham International Arena today for the League 3 National Finals 2016, another 16 teams were split in to four groups and would play three group matches each before the knockout stages.

In Group A Bristol City were unbeaten winning every game by one goal to progress with 9 points, in second was Southampton who finished on 4 points the same as Blackpool but the Saints progressed by virtue of goal difference; Newport County finished fourth on 0 points.

In Group B Preston North End finished top on maximum points, convincingly winning all three game, Exeter snatches the second qualifying spot on 6 points while Norwich City finished third on 3 points and Newport County fourth on 0 points.

In Group C the other Canaries side finished unbeaten and topped the group on 9 points. In second place was another tie on points with Portmouth and Southampton finishing on 4 points respectively but it was Pompey who had the superior goal difference and progressed to the quarter finals. In fourth place were Bradford City on 0 points.

In Group D, the top spot was tied on 7 points with Scunthorpe United finishing above Grimsby Town on goal difference, in third place was Bristol City on 3 points and Hull City on 0 points.

To the quarter finals and the best 8 teams of the day would battle it out. In the first quarter final Exeter overcame Bristol, Norwich City had their revenge on Grimsby Town who until today had done the treble over the Carrow Road outfit, beating them for a place in the semis. In the bottom half of the draw Preston North End beat Southampton and Scunny beat Portsmouth.

In the semi finals Norwich City continued their good form in the finals beating Exeter City 3 – 2, The Lilywhites also remained unbeaten winning 3 – 0 against Scunthorpe to set up a great final.

The final between the best two teams of the day and it didn’t disappoint with both teams on the attack from the first whistle, it was Preston North End who scored first and it stayed 1 – 0 until for the rest of the match with a great display from their defence and keeper to keep the clean sheet.

Preston North End were Champions and fully deserved, a great day of Futsal from all the players, coaches, staff and of course the referees, well done everyone.

Posh Clinch National Final Win

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The National Ladies Finals of the EFL Trust Futsal League came to a head this month with six teams from around the country travelling to the new Play Football Futsal Arena in Birmingham.

The season has taken it’s toll on some of the teams with some teams dropping out due to injuries but the teams that turned up to a wet and windy Futsal Arena were raring to go for the finals.

Of the six teams competing were League Champions and strong favourites Peterborough United Ladies who were looking to complete a league and Cup double, the team was presented with the League trophy prior to the matches today.

Three matches in each group and we were under way and The Posh got off to a great start with a 3 – 0 win over Bristol City Ladies, while in Group B another strong team Southampton Ladies clinched a 1 – 0 win over Shrewsbury Town Ladies.

In the next round of fixtures Cardiff City got the best possible start with a 4 – 1 win over The Shrews and Burton Albion also started well with a 3 – 1 win over Bristol City Ladies.

The final group matches saw Peterborough comfortably beat Burton Albion 5 – 1 while it was a tighter affair with Southampton and Cardiff City who were both in with a chance of qualifying for he final, Cardiff City came out winners with a 2 – 0 win.

To the Final between Peterborough and Cardiff and both teams started well with chances for both but it was Peterborough who scored first and by half time made it 2 – 0, a brave fight in the second half saw The Bluebirds score two goals themselves but it was after Peterborough has already added two more so too little too late as The Posh won 4 – 2 to complete the League and National Finals double.

Well done to all the teams and coaches who attended today with some great Futsal from every team, a big thank you to the venue and also the referee’s who kept the matches flowing throughout the day.