The first County Athlete Assessment & Development Centre (C.A.A.D.C.’s) for football in conjunction with the Playground to Podium programme was held at the Bunyan Centre, Bedford on Wednesday 17th June with 29 players attending.
The day organised by Bedford Borough Council was dedicated to identify and nurture disabled young people with the potential to be elite athletes and performers. Within mainstream and special schools, school sports co-ordinators worked with physical education professionals to identify young disabled people who have shown shoots of sporting potential. All disabled children and young people are eligible to be considered for entry into the podium pathway, not just those with impairments that are covered by the Paralympics.
These young people were referred to C.A.A.D.C’s which will be held once per academic year in each County Sports Partnership (CSP) area. The aim of the assessment and development centres is to provide an opportunity for a representative from the participating National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) to assess the young people as to whether they have the potential to progress within a specific sport.
To this end Bedfordshire Football Association were responsible for the delivery of football skills sessions to identify talented players. The main event was held at the Bedfordshire International Athletics Stadium, but with no artificial facility there the football had to be held at the Bunyan Centre some 15 minutes away. As a result the time allowed for the sessions to be delivered had be reduced, but delivered they were and proved to be very successful in identifying 5 players who will be referred to the FA who in turn will offer these players places at their nearest Centre of Excellence for further development. A further 10 players were identified as having talent and these will be monitored over the next year.
Bedfordshire FA Disability Officer Les Dedman complemented all players who turned out on the day and also paid tribute to the Development staff at Bedfordshire FA, namely Kevin England, Anika Leslie-Walker, James Slack and Claire Davidson who’s skill and hard work made the day a huge success.