St Albans City FC Inclusive Football
The Pitch
Problem statement
Across the UK Disabled persons are less likely to be engaged in and have access to organised sport than the able bodied. Census data shows SA has 142k residents of which 30% are aged up to 25. Therefore, data suggests 11-12,000 local youngsters have a Disability of which 3-4,000 are of School age. In 2017, Sport England research found that young disabled persons are twice as likely as non-disabled persons to be physically inactive (21%v42%). An Activity Alliance survey in 2019 revealed 81% of disabled people want to be more active. In 2015, a Scope survey found that 77% young disabled persons (14-25) believed that they have too many barriers to accessing Sport. We want to change this.
Solution
The goal is to partner with Oaklands College to deliver a SEN Football Skills Day for up to 100 students with a range of physical and mental impairments repeating an enormously successful event held in 2021. This will involve a carousel of different sports-based activities that will be fun, appropriate and engaging. The activities were delivered by 12 of our Community Coaches. Funding will be spent on advertising, specialist equipment, venue hire and adequate coaching provision enabling effective delivery and safeguarding ratios. Funding will also help support the running of our existing inclusive sides.
Why are we best placed to deliver?
SACY in the Community has been delivering projects in partnership with local agencies for in excess 23 years. The Inclusive Section at City Youth is a key part of our family. We have recently appointed a hugely experienced Inclusive Section Co-ordinator whose remit is to both improve and expand our Inclusive Section offering young persons with disabilities the opportunity to become more active and involved through sport. Opportunities that we feel should be open to all. SACY has an incredible and multi award winning track record in delivering multiple Projects to persons with disabilities including, Coach Education, Work experience and Junior Sports Leaders courses.
Focus Areas
Delivery plan
Budget breakdown
| Equipment | £180 |
| Coaching Provision | £1,800 |
| Facility Hire | £360 |
| Administration | £100 |
| Player travel costs | £360 |
Beneficiaries
100 people
Expected impact
St Albans City Youth FC encompasses all elements of our community. We have the ethos ‘Football for All’.The initial impacts of the event will provide both physical and mental well-being and also help build self-esteem, resilience and a sense of belonging and community amongst the attendees. We witnessed this last year.We hope that we will be able to attract several of the young persons to our follow up Inclusive Camps in July/August 2022 and then for them to become full and active members of our Club. Any young person with a Disability that we can welcome to the City Youth Family is given access to a wealth of opportunities; the chance to learn new sport and life skills, to play organised sport, to travel, to make new friends and teammates, to earn coaching qualifications, to enhance employment opportunities through our own coaching programme and beyond. It will also continue to raise awareness locally regarding the barriers that persons with disabilities have accessing sport.
Track record
SACY’s long and successful Track Record in Inclusive Football is best summed up with the Case Study of Tom W. "As a player and a coach I have always wanted to challenge myself and also encourage and help others to develop their football too." Tom W. 2019 Special Olympics Gold Medallist, Great Britain. Tom has been playing football at SACY since 2005. As well as playing in the Adult Inclusive Team in matches and tournaments, Tom was also chosen to play for Great Britain in 2019. Travelling to the UAE, Tom won a Gold medal in a 3-1 final over Australia at the Special Olympics World Games. Tom was encouraged by the club to sign up to the highly successful apprenticeship and coaching programme. Through this forward-thinking initiative for player development, Tom achieved his Level 1 coaching qualification and has been coaching the Youth Inclusive teams at St Albans City Youth FC for over 10 years as well as gaining paid employment delivering community sessions in local schools.