What started off as a dreary Sunday morning when looking outside at the weather turned out to be an inspirational day of sporting excellence inside the sports hall. The idea of the event was to showcase talented individuals and give opportunities for them to move up in their chosen sport through the National Governing Bodies. All the children who took part were put through one of The FA Tesco Skills Challenges and given an opportunity to impress in small-sided games as part of the FA football workshop.
Worcestershire FA was represented through Community Sports Coach, Ted Grizzell, and three of our most promising young leaders in Lauren Whiteman, Gemma Heapy and Doug Howie, the latter two of which will be representing the County at this year’s FA National Young Leadership Camp. The team, which worked alongside staff from the Herefordshire FA headed up by Paul Carpenter, Football Development Officer, thoroughly enjoyed the day and the young leaders were certainly a great asset to the event.
“The children taking part in the day all came with a great attitude towards the game and a huge appetite for learning and succeeding. It was great to see so many talented players not being put off by any disability they might have” said Ted Grizzell.
The last part of the day was one of great significance to the children and the event, with Simon Hill, paralympian with the GB Blind Football Team saying a few words about his journey through sport. To add to that, the day was made very real for all players involved when two athletes, namely Glenn Scott & Georgette Mullen who had taken part in a similar event last year, talked about their journey from participating in school sport to competing nationally within 12 months!
Glenn sent out a final powerful message when he bravely stepped up and gave a truly inspiration speech, stating that “We are not disabled because of the abilities we don’t have. We are able because of the abilities we do have” the 16 year old sprinter said.
If you are interested in joining a football club within Worcestershire or would like information on setting up a club then please contact Matt Jones, Football Development Officer on 01905 827137 (ext 206).