Coaching
At Bedfordshire FA we have Community Disability Coach Les Dedman who does work all around the county. Les is available to any organisations who work with disabled children or adults. He is qualified in specific training including coaching visually impaired/blind and deaf players, wheelchair football and works to FA guidelines.
Coaching can be either during curriculum time, as an extra curricula activity, or as an evening session to suit your requirements. This opportunity is accessible to schools, colleges, day centres, clubs with a disability section, and organisations that would like to start a football section or receiving football coaching. So far 22 schools/colleges/day centres have already received sessions with over 600 players involved.
Sessions are now being planned from April 2010, and there are still a few dates available, so if there are any schools, colleges, clubs, day centres or organisations that would like further information on how to access this activity then please contact Les Dedman at Bedfordshire Football Association, or e-mail les.dedman@bedfordshirefa.com
With so many players now receiving coaching they would love to get more involved in training and playing on a regular basis, so we are looking for clubs to come forward and start up their disability section. We at Bedfordshire FA will be only to willing to offer all the help and assistance that we can. Already we have AFC Kempston, AFC Dunstable, Crawley Green FC and Arlesey Town FC involved, so a few more clubs becoming involved would mean that we could look at starting our own league. Any club interested then please contact Les Dedman at Bedfordshire FA
We also run an adult PAN disability ability counts league with 11 teams from both Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire taking part last year, involving over 100 players and 30 volunteers. We also had a female section involving nearly 20 players.
This year we are planning to hold the league here at Bedfordshire FA Headquarters on our brand new 3G artificial pitch, and we already have had 15 teams entered with another 4 teams showing interest. It is planned to start the league at the end of May and play through until the end of November. We are also hoping to run a female section again and any ladies interested in playing should contact Les at Beds FA.
Based on players’ ability, teams are put into three divisions, with teams being of similar and equal ability which will hopefully mean that all matches will be even. Teams will play each other on a round - robin basis on the dates that we meet, with all results counting towards final league positions at the end of November. All players taking part receive a medal of achievement at the end, with the winners of each league also receiving a trophy. Games are 7 a-side however this can be flexible depending on how many players available on the day. Games will kick-off at around 10.00 am and we expect to be finished about 2.00 pm.
If there are any clubs, day centres, colleges, groups or individuals that would like to play in an organised league or festival, then please contact Les Dedman at Bedfordshire FA. The invitation is open to both male and female players, even if you do not have enough players to make up your own team, please make contact , nobody will be turned away as we always have teams that are looking for players. It would be great to have a separate female league so please don’t be shy ladies come along and enjoy the game.
Girl’s Coaching Day
Following the success of last year’s coaching day, we again holding another girl’s only coaching day on Thursday 22nd April at Grange Special School, Kempston for girls of all ages up to and including year 11. The sessions will be played on grass and will run from 10.30 am – 2 pm
The day will be made up of skill and drills sessions in the morning, followed by fun games in the afternoon with all the girls being divided into teams from different schools. If the day is anything like last year’s then it will be a huge success. If there are any girls attending schools who Les does not visit aged up to and including year 11 in Bedfordshire who would like to attend the day, please contact either Les or Anika at Beds FA.
Players attending should bring suitable outdoor kit and footwear, together with a warm jacket, packed lunch and drinks.
Boy’s Coaching Day
Following the success of last year’s day, when 60 boys from years 7, 8 & 9 took part, we are this year holding two boy’s only coaching days.
The sessions will be held on Thursday 29th April for all boys up to and including KS3 and on Thursday 13th May for KS4 boys. Both sessions will be held at Grange Special School, Kempston from 10.30 am – 2.00pm and will be played on grass pitches. Players should wear suitable outdoor kit and footwear, and bring a warm jacket, packed lunch and drinks.
As with the girls, the days will be made up of skills and drill in the morning, followed by fun matches in the afternoon. It is hoped that the FA Tesco Skills Coaches will be taking the session on Thursday 29th April.
The day was also used to identify any talented players in conjunction with the FA Playground2Podium programme, and the coached felt that three players showed potential to warrant recommendation to their nearest Centre of Excellence.
Playground to Podium (P2P) Programme
The next County Athlete Assessment & Development Centre (C.A.A.D.C.’s) for football in conjunction with the Playground to Podium programme is planned to be held at the Bunyan Centre, Bedford on Friday 11th June although this is subject to confirmation.
The day will again be organised by Bedford Borough Council and will be 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 showed 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 fro 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 will be responsible for the delivery of football skills sessions to identify talented players. The main event will be held at the Bedfordshire International Athletics Stadium, but with no artificial facility there the football will be held at the Bunyan Centre. Players identified as having talent will be offered trials at our nearest Disability Centre of Excellence, which is at Northampton Town FC.
Centre of Excellence News
We now have six players from our county at Northampton Town FC Centre of Excellence, and all are progressing very well indeed and are playing once a month in the FA East/West Midlands Disability Centre of Excellence League.
As a result of these fixture two under 14 players have been selected to attend trial for under 16 international trial, one for the visually impaired squad and another for the hearing impediment squad with these trails taking part at Lilleshall Sports Centre later this year. We at Beds FA offer both players our warmest congratulations and best wishes, and we will keep everybody advised as to their progress.
Bedfordshire FA congratulates all players on a magnificent achievement and wish them all well for the future and we will keep a close eye on their progress.