Case Studies

Unfortunately we are not able disclose the name of this young female. Although we are able to only show a group photo from when she attended a Southend United match day through our Future Blues Programme (Free ticket scheme) – please see below.

We have a young female who attends a local school, Janet Duke Primary – previous to us attending her school to deliver we had been informed by the class teacher there was a young female who really enjoys playing football but does not have the confidence to take part in any sessions or clubs. The young lady was a slow learner, did not particularly enjoy School and had trouble concentrating. As a community we wanted to make this one of our aims to try and target this young female to be able to develop her football skills with the possibility depending on ability to try and get her to become part of our SUCSC u10’s squad.

We tasked one of our new full time female coaches to engage with the School in order to encourage young girls to join in with Sport and to increase participation externally.

After the initial 4 weeks of the young lady only participating in small parts of the session, we arrived in the 5th week to see the young girl in her PE kit and ready for our Football lesson. The turnaround was remarkable with her teacher commenting.

“Anonymous has grown in confidence over the past 4 weeks and it’s amazing to see her achieve her potential that we knew she had. The female coaching staff from SUFC have made her feel at ease and have made the PE sessions less competitive but still fun. We hope to work with SUFC over the remaining of the year and hopefully beyond”

The young pupil Is now part of our Southend United Community Sports Club and is continuing to grow in confidence.

Georgia Raby from SUFC and once of Premier Sport commented “It’s amazing how many opportunities are here at Southend United Community, the funding that’s provided is excellent for pupils like ‘anonymous’ to progress the way she has” The format in which we go in and set the ground running in 6 week blocks give us enough time to have a positive impact and hopefully the School recognise this and extend our stay!”

Parents of the Anonymous also agreed with the statements above saying “Anonymous has really come out her shell since working with the SUFC coaches. The option to join the largest Girls team in the area was a huge opportunity and she is really enjoying her Football. Having the option to go on the pitch in front of all the fans and meet the players was fantastic”

Anonymous is now part of our Girls under 10 squad and is going on tour in the Summer to play against the likes of West Ham United.

Hilltop Infants =L

Hilltop Infants and I were in contact over the possibility of delivering numerous sessions at their school. Following a positive meeting we decided that the Premier League Primary Stars Programme would be of most benefit to the school. Hilltop Infants are in a deprived area and don’t have much support regarding PE so being able to send our Southend United coaches in to deliver was a great way to engage with numerous pupils and offer support around their active learning.

L’s journey started through PE sessions with his class. We previously spoke to the class teacher regarding the class and asked if there was any information about the pupils we needed to know before the sessions began. Our coaches were told that L had Autism and wasn’t too keen on engaging in any kind of physical activity. We were keen to get Luke involved throughout the 12 weeks Primary Stars delivery along with all his class mates. We decided to deliver football sessions but focusing more on the enjoyment and team work of the pupils. We set achievable goals for all pupils to encourage a sense of achievement come the end of the session.

L’s teacher said – “L really enjoyed his first PE session. Seeing him engage in PE is something that’s not happened for a while. He is a big Southend Fan and I think therefore he has taken to the coaches. They were excellent when setting different targets to each child”.

We continued to work at their school across the 12-Weeks. The sessions continued to be successful and we saw a great attendance for all sessions. Dan Chapman, Headteacher said “Southend United Staff have increased attendance in our PE sessions. I’ve been out to see some of the activities and its brilliant the way they engage pupils throughout their sessions.’

Speaking with our Southend United coaches they mentioned how well L has progressed, not only through his ability but his attitude and confidence towards physical activity. During the first session L was taking part in sporadically however, he was not engaging throughout the whole session. As weeks went by he was getting more and more involved in the sessions and it was clear to see his enjoyment levels were growing throughout. By the end he was engaged through the whole hour session, working with other pupils and his ability has improved.

One of the Southend United Community Coaches said “L has been good when delivering sessions, seeing him from the first week to now has been fantastic. Going from taking part in 20 minutes of the session in and out to taking part in the whole hour just goes to show the effect the sessions are having on him. His confidence and ability has come on leaps and bounds. It is also great to see his ability is growing. He is now talking about attending our After-School Club to improve more on his ability. Seeing developments like this makes the whole delivery worthwhile.

We have now promoted our other pathways to the school giving them the opportunity to get involved in many different activities. This will again improve upon children’s confidence and ability to work together. The more sport they get involved in the better they will be socially but also health wise.

Finally, following our successful 12-week delivery Hilltop Infants have now become paying customers and our Southend Community Coaches are now delivering PE sessions all day Thursday and Wednesday afternoon (weekly) leading up until the end of the school year. We have built a brilliant relationship with this school and we hope this will continue to inspire many pupils like L to not let any obstacles get in the way of them achieving great things and continuing to engage and enjoy sport to the best of their ability.

L said “The class with Southend United is very good. I am enjoying my PE and the past weeks have been great. I look up to the coaches and find I am behaving better because I am doing more in the sessions. I like the football sessions and am learning more each time”.

Unfortunately L’s parents didn’t want us to take a photo of him during the session so we are without this.

Last year Southend United Community & Educational Trust (SUCET) ran a Kicking-On programme which focused on the use of physical activity to improve confidence, engagement and aspirations of young people aged 16-25. Alongside the Kicking-On programme we looked to create further pathways into volunteering and educational programmes.

Shaun attended our Kicking-On programme last year and participated in our Coaches day which provided participants with basic skills in coaching.

Shaun impressed (SUCET) staff during the Coaching day where he showed excellent potential and natural leadership skills, from this Shaun was offered a place on our FA Level 1 in Football course where he also gained qualifications in First Aid and Child Protection.

Following an educational pathway provided by SUCET, Shaun has now enrolled onto our Scholarship programme (a 2-year college course) where he is currently studying with us to obtain his BTEC level 3.

Since completing his coaching qualification Shaun now volunteers regularly at our Premier League Kicks sessions where he continues to pass on his knowledge and is teaching football to 8-19 year olds in the local community.

In the future, we will look to encourage Shaun to attend our Apprenticeship day after his scholarship ends; and gain full- time employment with the Trust. This will continue his development and give him the opportunity to gain more experience as well as complete further coaching badges/qualifications.

Charlie Barlow (Futsal Officer) said “Shaun is the captain of our Futsal team, his attitude and leadership with the team and around the college is great. It would be good to see Shaun progress through our educational pathway. We look forward to seeing Shaun progress and look forward to helping him with his journey”.

Oliver first engaged with PL Kicks four years ago, aged 15. One of our coaches recalls this stating “The very first time that I spoke to Oliver it was clear that he was lacking in confidence and enthusiasm”. Oliver is now an apprentice coach with our Trust and is certainly one of the most competent apprentices within the team. The following will describe his pathway from participant to employee.

Whilst in year 11, Oliver regularly attended the PL Kicks session at PlayFootball, participating 32 times between September 2015 and July 2016, including once representing Southend United at a Kicks tournament.

Oliver recalls that he thoroughly enjoyed these sessions and spoke regularly with the coaches present, leading to him learning about the college course which we as a Trust deliver. Having always had a keen interest in playing football, Oliver took the opportunity to join the college scholarship programme and represented us in football leagues before graduating from the college scheme.

Whilst attending the college, Oliver was invited to volunteer at PlayFootball Kicks by one of his college tutors which he did for several months during 2017. Oliver recalls thoroughly enjoying his time volunteering, in his own words “spending time volunteering at Kicks definitely encouraged me to pursue a job with the Trust because I really enjoyed my time there, so the option to get paid to do it was something that I was really interested in doing.

Thanks in part to the competence Oliver displayed during his time volunteering at PlayFootball, he has been employed as an apprentice coach within the Trust since July 2018. He now leads the PL Kicks session at PlayFootball which he used to attend, and has an outstanding rapport with the participants, which is reflected in the fact that the Playfootball session is the only one which regularly attracts more participants than can play at any one time. This is certainly due (at least in part) to the number of years Oliver has spent attending this session in his various capacities as participant, volunteer and coach. Not only has this helped us as a Trust to develop the session, recruiting and retaining more participants as a result of the continuity in staffing and the presence of a former participant coaching, but Oliver’s commitment to this session has certainly helped him to grow in a personal and professional capacity.

One of our former coaches agrees with this assertion, stating “Over the past two years Oliver has grown as a person massively, the difference in his confidence from then to now is a great achievement for him, Oliver has clearly proven how much he has developed due to his current role and that he can now lead the PL Kicks session that he used to attend.”

Since joining the Trust Oliver has completed his FA Level 1 Coaching Qualification as well as other coaching qualifications and CPD events. He is extremely happy in his work and believes that he would not be where he is today had he not have attended PL Kicks as a 15-year-old. Our former PL Kicks Co-ordinator says “Oliver has been a pleasure to work with over the past year he has progressed his skills and is now an apprentice member of staff at the trust. He now has the opportunity to give back to the kicks programme and showcase his skills further.”