Oxfordshire FA was asked to nominate their two most promising young leaders (one male, one female), aged 16-17 years old to attend camp. Ben Priestley and Touria Koudoua, from Carterton Community College and The Oxford Academy respectively, were given the honour of representing Oxfordshire FA.
During the week, 10 workshops were delivered, each with the focus on leadership, giving them the opportunity to develop their leadership skills in different settings. The workshops delivered included; Refereeing, Futsal, 5-11 Skills Coaching, Working with the Media and Equality. This was complimented by a comprehensive evening activities programme, a careers afternoon and a football festival on the final morning.
Ben Priestley said; "This was a fantastic opportunity for me to learn new skills, test myself and meet football volunteers of a similar age. The workshops were very interesting and i will be able to take my skills learnt back into my schools and local football club"
The FA’s Education Project Officer, Steve Swallow, who has responsibility for The FA’s Leadership and Volunteering Programme Nationally said; ‘The camp has been a huge success. For the first time this year, every Young Leader has left the camp with an individual assessment, which will be sent back to their County FA and used to formulate a personal development plan for the Young Leader. It has been a very humbling experience watching 103 Young Leaders come together from different backgrounds and develop through the week. The FA is committed to developing a skilled volunteer and paid workforce. This camp will go a long way to ensuring that we achieve that goal. We are now seeing several young people come through this programme and gain full-time employment within football. Many of the staff that worked on camp this year have also graduated through the programme.
The guest of honour from the final day was Howard Webb, who attended less than a week after refereeing the World Cup Final between Spain and the Netherlands. Howard gave the Young Leaders an insight to his career, all the way back to the time when he took up the whistle as a 16 year old, and his World Cup experiences. On closing, he said ‘coming here today has reassured me that football in this country is in safe hands’.
If you would like more information on Leadership and Volunteering, please contact Owain Prosser on Owain.Prosser@OxfordshireFA.com or 07956415583.