- by Rachel Cressey

Congratulations to the 21 students who passed their 1st4sport FA Level 1 in Football Coaching. The students took part in the course hosted at Balby Carr Sports College over four days to learn the basics of becoming a qualified sports coach by FA Coach Educator John McGowan.

The course is the first step into becoming a recognised football coach, or to have the opportunity to go onto other vocationally related areas including officiating and sports therapy. The knowledge they have gained with this Level one qualification means they now have a basic understanding of a safe, ethical and effective way on how to coach grass roots club teams for children and other young people.

The course consisted of 4 days of a mixture of practical, theory and examinations in which they were their practical training was assessed via oral and written projects. They were also assessed by an external examiner on their delivery of a 20 minute practical coaching session on a topic chosen by the examiner from the Level 1 Football practical syllabus. The learners will use the skills learnt on this course to continue assisting our Community Coaches working with children across Doncaster and to help them find paid employment in the coaching field.

The learners were able to complete this course through external funding form Doncaster Youth Bank. The learners completed a successful funding application outlining their plans for the course and how they will use the course to help children in the community. The Youth Bank gave us the sum of £3000 to fund the project and the learners were all very thankful! We would like to thank Balby Carr Sports College, John McGowan and the Youth Bank Team for funding such a worthwhile, valuable experience and qualification.