How Does it Work?

 

Our goal is to see young people reach their full potential, not just in sport but in every aspect of their life.  By combining a life-skills programme alongside football coaching, we have the opportunity to look at some of the positive values found in sport and translating that into a broader context.  We do this by building time into our training sessions to focus on different topics, what they mean in a sporting context and also what they mean outside the context of sport.  That could take the form of a drill designed to look at a specific value, it could be through a half-time team talk or it could be through a hand-out or 'homework' task.  As a coaching team we also try to model these values ourselves in all that we do and lead by example.

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What are the benefits of a life-skills programme?

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In the short term it teaches new skills, sets standards of behaviour and also helps build friendship groups.  Young people coming to our training sessions know that they are valued, that we want the best for them and that they can come along and play football in a supportive and encouraging environment.  In the longer term research has consistently shown that 'soft-skills' such as communication, resilience and working as a team are vital for young people to develop, particularly as they get older and move into the working world.  

 

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