Coaches with disabilities lead the way

Emdad Rahman

I often come across interesting discussions and notions of coaching – the so-called glamour and the mega huge wage packets. I personally have not met a coach in any sport who does it for the money. Take, for example, current England manager Sam Allardyce, who once upon a time told me he only did it for the satisfaction of knowing he was making a difference. The pay packet is irrelevant as coaches at the top are in a more than comfortable financial position. It’s what drove him on and now, unsurprisingly, Big Sam sits at the top of the tree.

I met and asked former Southampton manager Nigel Adkins for a coaching tip. He put his arm around me and told me to play silent football during training. I’ve seen a positive difference in my players in more ways than one. In fact the players are fine: it’s the coaches who can’t quite grasp the concept.

Then there’s the coaches at grassroots level who do it all for nothing. They have no resources and very poor support. The support in terms of facilities and development but one thing, they do possess is plenty of heart.

The grassroots are where it’s all happening and where I believe the elite coaches should spend a few days a year to keep in touch and to also gain invaluable insight and knowledge to take forward. It’s more inclusive and fun for a start. My FA Level 1 coach was a gentleman named Ray Lee. I will be hard pressed to find a more charismatic, knowledgeable teacher and mentor in this field. Then there is Team GB Paralympics Coach Michelle Weltman, who taught me that you can run a session with virtually no equipment or apparatus. You just need to inject a bit of enthusiasm to make it fun and productive.

Recently I spent time with Further Education and Employability Programme tutor, mentor and football coach Jamie Crouch at the East London based Tower Project. The Tower Project is a community based voluntary sector organisation and award winning leading service provider for children and adults with a learning disability, sensory disability, autism, physical disability or health related issues.

This was where the JET (Job, Enterprise & Training) service developed a week long programme in which, for four hours each day, students with both physical and emotional disabilities were encouraged to play team and individual sports. They also had to learn to identify areas of a sport they needed to improve upon.

Participants at the East End project came up trumps after successfully training as football coaches during a two week summer programme. Excited participants on the scheme were taught the basics of football coaching for a week at the Play on Sports Centre, Whitechapel. The tables were reversed in the second week with the new recruits taking on coaching and mentor roles.

Each day of the week presented a new topic, which each had a different learning outcome and methods of teaching varied depending on the topic the session focused on. For example, Monday featured the introduction and understanding of coaching and what it entails. The final session on Friday featured the nature of competition, which included all the sporting and coaching skills the participants had learnt throughout the week. The methods of learning varied throughout the sessions, ranging from group discussions to videos, power points, work books, practical exercises and demonstrations.

The final session showed how much the students had progressed, using their own initiatives to go through warm up and training drills and then using team work skills in a final match which included every student. The scheme had promoted social participation/interaction, which is important as young people with learning disabilities are particularly vulnerable in such areas. Using sport to integrate these young individuals is a fantastic strategy being adopted by Jamie Crouch.

I personally met and congratulated each student who took part for staying disciplined throughout the programme. I gave a special thanks to Crouch for inviting me and developing such an innovative, forward thinking, beneficial scheme.

“They’ve been doing basic drills – dribbling, shooting and passing to team mates,” said Crouch. “We have had a drill a day and spent a week coaching the coaches. This week the roles were reversed and it’s been really great to see how good they’ve been.”

The select group had expressed an interest in becoming coaches, so Crouch and the team provided them all a platform to increase their knowledge and skill.

He added, “Next week all the young people start appointments with advisors like Robin Smith, who has been part of the coaching set up here. They will work out a pathway based on interests and hobbies and we will look at their areas of interests together. We supply courses for the clients and students to build up their knowledge and skills and, hopefully, work towards an award or qualification. The skills they have picked up these last two weeks will boost their CV a little bit and help them to apply for jobs. It is very satisfying just to see our students make friends, learn new skills, and develop soft outcomes. They have improved in every aspect, and all in a fun environment.”

Participants on the programme have learning disabilities, while others have high function autism, dispraxia, cystic fibrosis and/or type 1 diabetes. During the programme the clients also learnt about healthy living and developed transferable skills that they can use at home and in the community.

Crouch has a pathway in mind for the budding coaches. “We hope to do this on a more regular basis with these coaches, and hopefully pay them and get them to do their level 1 coaching to hep them develop even further. That would be pretty amazing.”

Penalty king Adebayo has loved his two weeks of learning and fun. “I enjoyed passing and playing and making friends,’ said the Cardiff City fan.

“I loved it and I hope I can learn more about coaching,” said Ryan.

“The Penny Shoot and the games warm up with my friends was fun,” said Fatima.

This is the beauty of grassroots coaching. It’s hard work but the rewards are immense.

•The key aims of the Tower Project are to enable and empower people with disabilities to develop opportunities, become independent, participate fully in education, employment and have a voice in the community. The Tower Project delivers this by offering a range of services for different needs. The staff at Tower Project work in engaging and using innovative strategies to allow young people fully participate in various activities. For more information, go to: www.towerproject.org.uk

[Adverts]