The Bedfordshire FA recently held a Ability Counts Academy/SEN Football Festival at Flitwick Football Centre with 11 schools and over 120 students (12-16 years old) in attendance.

It was nice to see so many in attendance, socialising, participating and mixing with students from all schools. The morning session had students mixed into teams playing with students from other schools, whilst the afternoon session allowed schools the opportunity to play in school teams.

The primary focus of the festival was to support the social development of the participants. Therefore this helped facilitate an appropriate playing and learning environment, rather than focussing on losing and/or winning each game. Players could score points for their school through gaining ‘Ability Counts Points’ via a variety of methods as listed below:

• Sportsmanship
• Good humour
• Role model
• Leadership
• Clear development of players
• Improvements in confidence
• Positive environments
• Players enjoying themselves

We would like to thank everyone that supported on the day enabling all in attendance to enjoy themselves, having a great day of football in very warm conditions.

We are looking to create similar opportunities in the next school year which will be in partnership with the local School Sport Partnerships (School Games Organisers) for schools to attend, providing an opportunity to link students from the schools to local clubs who have disability football provision.

Any local clubs that are looking to start or develop their disability football provision should email Jack Young (Jack.Young@BedfordshireFA,com).