England boss Roy Hodgson today gave his backing to our campaign to harness the power of football to change young lives.
London United aims to train di sadvantaged young people living on the capital’s most deprived estates as football coaches and give them the chance to coach others in their communities.
Hodgson said: “I am thrilled to see the efforts being made by the Evening Standard to engage the London community in football coaching.
Coaches, like teachers, can have a profound influence on young people and this is especially important in the more deprived areas of our towns and cities where positive diversions are welcome.”
London United’s coaches will also be mentors, imparting lessons in leadership, discipline and teamwork as well as ball skills.
The training of the first intake of London United football coaches will take place at Wembley and will be run by the Football Association, which has also joined our campaign and agreed to deliver the accredited coaching courses.
England manager Hodgson added: “I am delighted that the FA is able to support and deliver this important project.”
Sarah Sands, editor of the Standard, said: “With the FA on board as delivery partner for London United, we have the ‘dream team’.
“Each of the young people we are backing to become coaches and mentors will return to their community with an entire range of new skills and will in turn inspire scores of other young people.”
Twenty-four trainee coaches will head to Wembley Stadium to begin their FA Level 1 training at the beginning of next month and will be taught by the FA’s head of grassroots coaching Les Howie.
It is the first of five courses that will see at least 100 young people, male and female, take their FA Level 1 qualifications at designated venues across London by Christmas, with the most promising 20 selected to go on and complete the much more demanding Level 2 qualification as well.
The FA Level 1 course typically takes four days and is run over two weekends, but the FA is bolting on a fifth day of mentoring skills in line with our aim of coaches becoming life mentors too.
The trainees will come from 18 grassroots charities that operate across 15 boroughs and which use football as a magnet to tackle social change in impoverished parts of London.
They include London Tigers, which we feature today, as well as groups such as Ambassadors Football and Gangs Unite, which use football to engage the homeless and reformed gang members respectively.
The most successful trainees who are selected for FA Level 2 will be rewarded with a trip to the England team’s bespoke national training facility at St George’s Park.
