The Local and National Provision of football From youth to the professional game.

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Tom Green PE        Mr Restarick

The Local and National Provision of football

From youth to the professional game

Introduction

This project will be researching many different areas of football. I will begin at the grassroots level, which is primary school, local and junior leagues progressing through county, club and country. The areas included will be funding, incentive schemes, provision for different abilities etc. The local provision of football around my area with the help from my own experiences locally will be compared to the National set-up. Though they are two separate topics they will link together.

 

Review of Literature

In my local area there is large amounts of youth leagues ranging from under 8’s competitions upward, the grassroots football. The Kent messenger (KM) newspaper shows the variety of league and cup competition. Youth football in my area ranges from Maidstone Minor Leagues to the Kent League, North, Central and South. The KM and another resource, The Downswood Mail always have advertisements for players to join clubs, or managers that are needed for youth football.

            The Football Association (FA) consists of the professional and amateur game, with different branches off of it, for example, Kent Football Association. The FA gives you details about coaching schemes and initiatives available to young footballers hoping to progress in the game. The FA also gives details of semi-pro clubs like my club Lordswood who play in the Kent League up to the main, elite premiership clubs. These clubs are local and National clubs to me. Football is getting bigger all the time; a lot of money is pumped through this sport, one example is the £45 million pounds the FA is giving to grassroots facilities. Though a lot of this money is given and accumulated by the top clubs. Coaching courses are available around my area, such as Andy Ford’s Soccer School, also larger clubs issue advertisements for when they bring coaches to your area, e.g. Manchester United Coaching Course came to Maidstone, my area, three to four years ago. The Kent County Councils football section shows details of coaching courses available in Kent. SportsAid allocates awards usually between £250 and £500 to young sportspeople aged from approximately 12 -18 years (junior competitors) who have competed with distinction within their respective age group and achieved. This helps to promote sporting excellence and it gives them a better chance of succeeding.

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            Locally there is the Sports and Play Team, which helps in many ways the progress of football in Maidstone. The Sports and Play team will be setting up ‘Football in the Community' with local professional and amateur football clubs in order to create more opportunities for young people to engage in positive activity after school and to develop the clubs. The Sports and Play Team are one of the partners in the ‘Active Sports’ programme and are keen to work with local clubs. ‘Voluntary Club Facility Hire Grant’ helps to provide the facilities needed to ...

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