Pledge Project January Update
As we welcome in the New Year we also welcome Twyford Comets as our newest Pledge Club.
The Berkshire based club has successfully signed up to the project to help raise awareness of disability football in their local community.
Twyford Comets are a well-established grassroots football club with 23 teams starting at U7’s all the way up to adult football teams. As part of the Pledge Project, Twyford Comets will look not only share our BBFA Disability Club directory on their website, social media and display throughout their clubhouse but also pledged to put a coach through the upcoming Coaching Disabled Footballers Course and provide opportunities for a coach with a disability to work within the club.
In another exciting development, Twyford Comets will look to audit their current players to understand if any might be eligible to attend the upcoming England Talent Day designed to uncover the next England Disability Internationals. Uncovering talent within mainstream teams has proven incredibly difficult in recent years. Players in mainstream teams might often miss these opportunities as they are unaware of their eligibility for England Disability teams or simply don’t see the opportunity to attend the England Talent Day. News of the BBFA England Talent Day will be released in February but most likely to take place in April or May. Our advice to players who might believe they are eligible to attend this England Talent Day is to get in touch with Jonathan Coles, BBFA Disability Football Development Officer for more information.
We thank Twyford Comets for their Pledge and look forward to working with the club to raise awareness of Disability Football across the region.
Taking part in the Pledge Project is easy; clubs and leagues can make a pledge that suits the ambitions of the organisation. The pledge can be as big or small as the organisation decides but all pledges, regardless of size, will contribute to raising awareness of Disability Football.
There are 3 areas we are asking clubs to support; Awareness, Coach Education and Playing Opportunities.
Pledges don’t have to cost anything to the organisation and can require little time to complete but could have a big impact. In its simplest form an organisation could pledge to display the BBFA Disability Football Club Directory in their clubhouse. We have these professionally printed and ready to send out to clubs. By promoting this Club Directory a Player, Parent or Coach from the local region might see this and lead to a player with a disability getting involved with a local disability club.
BBFA will support Twyford Comets with their Pledge commitment and thank the committee for signing up to the Pledge Project.
If your organisation is interested in learning more about The Pledge Project please visit our dedicated Pledge Project webpage. The webpage has lots more information about the project with further examples of potential Pledges.
We also have a one-page information sheet which is easy to print off and share with your community members and, along with a copy of the BBFA Disability Club Directory, is available to download at the bottom of this page.
If your organisation is interested in making a Pledge or discussing potential Pledge ideas please contact Disability Football Development Officer Jonathan Coles by email Development@Berks-BucksFA.com or call 01235 558451 to find out more about what’s going on in your local area.