LSC receive ECFA sports funding to engage female and ESOL students in football

The sports team received funding from the ECFA with the aim to better engage female and ESOL students in footballing activities, be it playing, coaching or officiating. The funding has contributed to the running of additional weekly coached sessions for both female and ESOL students.These sessions are coached by both LSC staff and one of our external partners Salaam Peace (SP). The project has been working to create a footballing workforce and has been using lunchtimes and college holiday’s to run industry standard officiating courses. During the October half-term 16 students attended 5 classroom sessions and completed the FA BT Playmaker Award, this acts as a perquisite to the FA Introduction to Football qualification which students will be completing in March.

The students who have been part of the project have also committed to running a community junior football tournament which is scheduled to take place during the Easter break. Those students who complete the project will also be given the opportunity for industry employment at the end through the involvement of SP. The work at Leyton has been chosen by the ECFA as one of the most successful projects nationally and has been selected to be one of three colleges featured in a video series that celebrates grassroots football.