Real people, making a real difference

Words from real people, making a real difference in their area.

 

Albion Football Project, based in Littlehampton is a football training course is aimed at helping young unemployed men get fit – and give them a sporting chance of getting a job. We hear from Project Manager, Mark Slide.

I started working for Albion in the Community about five years ago now basically because, like many people, I love football. I first became involved with Arun two years ago with the Street Soccer programme which provided young people with an activity to keep them occupied. We launched that project in consultation with Sussex Police and the statistics showed that on the evening we ran the group in Littlehampton, anti-social behaviour reduced by an average of 40%. As a result, we were awarded the High Sherriff’s Award last year for crime prevention in West Sussex.

Our latest project has been with the support of Arun District Council and is called Albion Goals. It’s designed to encourage anyone over the age of 16 who is not in full-time employment to take part in a football project that provides sports coaching skills and also life coaching skills. So, the aim is to get people fit and feeling more positive about themselves.

The ten-week Albion Goals Project is being run from Littlehampton Sports Field every Wednesday from 11am to 1pm, and using football as a medium, the project aims to create a fun atmosphere and encourage physical activity, followed by a ‘team talk’ when advice will be offered on health, education, employment and courses.

Trialled in the Adur District last year, the project has had great results and proved that youngsters who had not previously had contact with employment/education through the usual channels were now engaged with the services and had begun studying, volunteering or got a job.

The project got off the ground when we approached Arun District Council and the Town Council to set up a similar scheme in Littlehampton.

As a result, the £7,762 of funding needed was found through a LNIA [Local Neighbourhood Improvement Area] grant, aimed at giving a boost to disadvantaged areas of Arun, in which many of the participants live in.

The first few sessions are just playing football - getting people fitter, and building self-esteem. The next step is to encourage the participants to sign-up for a variety of courses so that they have qualifications to show for their participation.

The first course is a Community Sports Leaders Award course run through Brighton and Hove Albion in the Community. Trained Sports Leaders provide schools and communities with a valuable resource in the organisation of sports days, tournaments, community events and after-school activities.

The courses are widely recognised as providing positive engagement for people, increasing responsibility, self-confidence and community awareness.

Then, participants are signed up for a Personal Best course, again delivered by the club. The Personal Best course is for adults who are 19+ years old who are currently out of work and looking to gain employment. The course looks at a number of units based around becoming a volunteer for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

In addition, every participant is given an Albion Goals Passport as an incentive. Each attendance means a stamp in the passport, each stamp is a way of earning prizes, eg Brighton & Hove Albion T-shirts, match tickets, Albion kit. So there are lots of reasons to come along and join us!

The project has now been going for two months and is already proving to be popular and successful. We’ve been averaging around 15 participants every week and are encouraging them to achieve a Sports Leaders Award and a Personal Best Course. I’m also trying to plan some games between them and teams from our sister projects in Worthing and Brighton. They can’t wait to get out on the pitch!

I do this job because I love football and have seen that it can be used to change people’s lives for the better. It’s a really good way of getting people to engage in the way that other support agencies sometimes struggle to do.  There are certain people in this world who are not designed to be penned in behind four walls and they’re the people we’re trying to help. Our aim is to make feel positive about themselves and this will hopefully lead them to make a positive contribution to life.

Anyone interested in joining the project can call Mark on 07821 466471.

 

If you operate a scheme or want to tell us about your area get in touch by emailing community.safety@arun.gov.uk