Over the last 13 years I have been involved with a number of deaf children societies including Sheffield, Ipswich, West Sufffolk ( Bury St Edmunds) and for a very short period Fylde before setting up our own Deaf children society for Lancaster and Morecambe (LaMDCS). In that time I have seen many different models of providing activities and events through both rural and urban deaf groups. I was really proud of our local LaMDCS, but volunteering to run so many different activities and events at the group, and doing the admin meant that my kids weren’t always doing what they wanted, so after consultation with them in March this year I resigned and have a new pass time in my life – deaf sport, particularly football, which the kids really enjoy!
As part of the local DCS, two years ago I received an Awards for all grant to start some football skills sessions for deaf kids after my eldest had come home from a mainstream football session in tears. He had been at the club nearly a year, and said that he didn’t know anyone and that they didn’t help him get involved and he never got picked for the team. I had done what I could with deaf awareness training and getting NDCS coaching information, but it hurt me that he didn’t feel involved.
NDCS’s Football development officer Tom Lyons helped me a lot in the early stages as I knew absolutely nothing about football
at all. We applied and got the
grant and we based ourselves at Morecambe Football Club as we thought this would encourage more kids to come along. The first session was a festival at the Globe arena. We had a tour of the stadium, we played football and did a skills session with Deaf GB Ladies player Jessica Everhurst and then we watched the Morecambe match. We then said we would start the training the following Friday and we had 24 kids sign up from 5-16 years. I must admit I did that bit wrong!!
At the end of the first year, and
on talking with the FA, I decided to announce the next year would be for U16’s and U12’s with a four year age banding – as in disability football. The younger kids didn’t really concentrate and the older ones were worried on accidentally hurting the younger ones. Since then we have had a steady 10-12 deaf young people come along. We also state that if a deaf child/young person would like to bring a friend or sibling along to the training they can as this means that if they also want to access a mainstream club they have a buddy that can go with them. This year is our third year, and the kids love it. They have an
hour on the 3G pitch at Morecambe, on a Friday evening and we have two coaches that work with them, but there is something missing from their lives… Competitive deaf football.
After setting up Morecambe Deaf
Friendly FC (as we are currently known) I realised that there are a number of difficulties in playing
football in competitions. That is, that there is only the NDCS tournament in March and a deaf schools tournament and that is it, the rest involved mainstream.
Now I have nothing against mainstream football but I do realise some deaf like to mix with their own culture as they have
communication issues and I
wanted to look at that. I was
invited to attend a new group called the Deaf Youth Football
Development Group, which involves all the home nation FA groups, plus various other sporting and deaf groups including UK Deaf sport and Men and Ladies GB Deaf football and one area we are trying to get developed is the pathways that young deaf people can take within football, but all the pathways and funding was for 12-14 years upwards, what about
the younger players??
This also got me thinking …. How hard is it to run some football?
So I have now created a mini football league for the North West for deaf kids aged 8-16. We had a pilot day near Manchester
in February where we had over 30 deaf kids turned up to play 4 matches each, and they loved it At the end of September we had a date at Liverpool Soccer Goals centre, donated by Everton, where we had around 25 deaf kids and this week we have our last event until February and that will be at the Woodhouse Park
Lifestyle Centre, Wythenshawe, Manchester, donated by paul Kelly Man City Disability Officer, and currently we have over 50 deaf players aged 8-16 attending.
We have called the sessions Deaf Friendly Football Festivals – North West, or DeaFFF NW. We
start with registration and then have a warm up session so the players get mixing and communicating to each other. Then the last two hours are
matches varying from 7-15 minutes each way depending on the number of teams and ages. It
isn’t really a league currently, more a deaf football festival. We have interest from groups in Blackpool, Bolton, Liverpool, Everton, Salford, and as far afield as Bradford and Leeds enquiring if they can attend. It isn’t just teams that can enter. We had a couple of individuals come along and we put them into teams and they enjoyed themselves too. In
fact the beaming grins on the kids playing and the comments from the parents showed that everyone enjoyed themselves, and the weather was great too! Girls can play in the under 12’s and u 16’s as we have had special dispensation from the FA as part of a pilot study re mixed football.
I am trying to organise 4-5 of these sessions, on an annual basis, around the North West so people from different areas can access at least one session, if travel is an issue. I have the
valuable support and knowledge from Andrew Brady who is Everton’s disability Development Officer in setting up this football, and we are talking to a number
of deaf individuals that may be able to come along as deaf role models and inspire the next generation of young deaf players.
As of yet I have been unable to secure any funding and so am relying on free venues and volunteers for support, but as I have now had the pilot and our first session and this week we are in Manchester I hope we can make people see that the kids enjoy it and there is a need to do something to involve younger deaf players.
In February we have our session at Lancashire FA’s headquarters on the 9th February 2014 at Leyland, Lancashire. Lancs FA has a player development centre which is pan disability but they are also the regional Centre of Excellence for Visual and Hearing Impaired players and so we will have their staff on hand to advise parents of possible pathways and support available to them locally to encourage more young players along the deaf player pathways.
If you know of a group that would be interested in playing at one of these events or would like more information about our deaf football, or sponsoring a session please contact me via [email protected] or 01524 793248.
The Deaf Friendly Football Festival in Bradford
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