Hat-trick
Funding from the Derwent New Deal for Communities Fund (NDC) and the Football Association (FA) has enabled Derby County in the Community to deliver a football development project in the Derwent district of Derby. The project commenced on 31st October 2005 with the appointment of Richard Astle the Football Development Worker (FDW). An obligation of the funding was that the project would be appropriately evaluated in relation to NDC’s strategic goals, which include creating a community of lifelong learning and improving the quality of life, creating a safer community, improving health and building the capacity of the local community.
The Hat-trick Project is managed by the Derby County in the Community (DCITC) Scheme and is based in the Derwent ward of Derby. The Hat-trick Project is based at the Beaufort Business Centre and is coordinated by the Football Development Worker who is assisted by one full-time coach and a team of part-time and voluntary staff. Hat-trick works with all of the primary schools, special schools and colleges in the area to provide quality opportunities for young people through curriculum, lunch-time and after-school clubs as well as holiday schemes and local football clubs. The project also works with local residents to offer quality opportunities for access to coaching courses in order to build capacity and for long term sustainability.
Aims and Objectives
• Get more young people involved in football, promoting the healthier lifestyles and living in line with the government’s obesity agenda;
• Develop sustainable activities that enable young people in Derwent to access initiatives within their local community and empowering them to be active in other communities;
• Increase the number of residents supporting ongoing activities on a volunteer basis whilst delivering a coach education programme for residents to progress professionally;
• Improve curriculum and out of school hours learning opportunity within Primary and Secondary education in line with the governments agenda of two hours of quality Physical Education per week;
• Create player pathways into local community teams;
• Work in partnership with key agencies such as: Derby City Council, Sporting Futures, NDC, Parks, Derbyshire County Football Association and local residents.
Throughout the course of the project over 1,000 young people have participated in football activities through after-school clubs, curriculum coaching, holiday schemes, club development, football festivals, girls only football and football for players with additional needs. These young people have benefited from regular participation in healthy activities through football coaching sessions thereby keeping children active and promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. The project has also delivered Healthy Living and Eating Days at Roe Farm, Breadsall Hill Top and Derwent Primary Schools which included a combination of practical football coaching with workshop based group work about diet and nutrition.
We have worked hard to develop sustainable activities that enable young people in Derwent to access initiatives within their local community and empower them to be active in other communities and create player pathways into local community teams.
The Hat-trick Project has supported a number of initiatives to ensure that sustainable activities have been developed for young people to play football in Derwent. Much of this work has been achieved by working with local clubs such as Derwent FC and Sporting Cobraz to enable them to deliver against a Development Plan to become sustainable clubs that can have a real and lasting impact on the local community.
The Hat-trick Project has been fundamental in the long-term development of Derwent FC by being represented on the club committee, creating, managing and coaching a new Under 9’s team each season and working together on funding applications and club fundraising events. The club is currently working hard to achieve the FA Charter Standard Award and towards the three year development plan put together by the Hat-trick FDW. Sporting Cobraz and Derwent FC have both benefited greatly from the players pathways established by the Hat-trick coaches for pupils attending coaching sessions in schools and young people attending holiday coaching schemes. In accordance with their development plan, Derwent FC has created a new Under 9’s team to compete in the FA affiliated Derby Community Mini-Soccer League for each of the last three seasons. During this period over thirty six young players have come to the club as a direct result of participating in Hat-trick activities. In addition to this Sporting Cobraz have also benefited from recruiting players for their boys team through the Hat-trick Project.
The leagues that the teams compete in give young people the chance to be active in communities other than the one in which they live as games are played city wide. The project has also provided opportunities for players to compete in tournaments at JJB Soccerdome on Pride Park as well as creating a meaningful relationship with the Walsall Hat-trick Project. This has seen the participants in both projects take part in football festivals in Derwent and Walsall.
The project has played an integral role in the partnership work of numerous agencies and organisations in the Derwent area. The Steering Group for the project has included members from Derby City Council, Derwent FC, Sporting Cobraz, Derbyshire FA, Derwent Empowerment Project, Sporting Futures, the Gateway Centre and the School Sports Partnership. This coordinated approach to the development of the project has helped to ensure that the scheme has remained on course for achieving its targets as well as responding to local needs.
The FDW has also taken a pro-active role in the successful achievements of the NDC funded Activity 4 Life Project which has provided a coordinated approach to activities for young people since 2007. The FDW acted as Project Manager for Activity 4 Life for one year and chaired the Development Group that made decisions on funding and activities.
The FDW also played a crucial role in the Development Group tasked with putting together a business and sports development plan for the Steve Bloomer floodlit ATP on the Racecourse. Over £500,000 funding was awarded by the Football Foundation and Barclays Spaces for Sport for the facility which is now widely utilised by local residents and teams.
The Sports Factor Programme has run each summer holiday for the last three years and is another demonstration of excellent partnership working, this time between Hat-trick, Sporting Futures, Lees Brook Community College and Connexions. The scheme provided school leavers with an opportunity to gain a range of sporting qualifications over a three week period, including the JFO and the Community Sports Leaders Award. The FDW delivered the JFO course each year and in turn was able to ensure that young Derwent residents were given places on the course. All of the participants were involved in organizing summer football tournaments for children attending Hat-trick sessions and two past students from Sports Factor are currently working on a part-time or voluntary basis with the Hat-trick Project.
A total of 70 qualifications have been achieved by 55 different individuals from the Derwent area. Of the people gaining qualifications, all of them have had an input into the running of the Hat-trick Project through a variety of ways. These include running football festivals for local primary schools, managing and coaching local club teams, being employed either full-time or on a part-time basis by the project and refereeing games for local club teams. Many of the Junior Football Organiser (JFO) students are Year 10 pupils at da Vinci who have taken part in organising tournaments for young players at local primary schools.
The project has also taken on three young local residents on Community Coach Modern Apprenticeship schemes, one for each year of the project. The first holder of this post was Mathew Blakemore who successfully achieved his Level 2 Coaching Certificate and following the completion of his year with Hat-trick he went on to work full-time with Derby County in the Community. Mathew is now back with Hat-trick as Lead Coach with responsibility for delivering coaching sessions in schools, creating and developing new teams for Derwent FC and mentoring assistant coaches who have completed their qualifications through Hat-trick. Both of the two following apprentices are still working in a part-time capacity with the project and both gained the FA Level 1 Coaching Certificate as well as numerous other qualifications whilst on the scheme.
The project has developed strong relationships with the four main primary schools in the area (Breadsall Hill Top, Roe Farm, Beaufort and Derwent) as well as da Vinci Community College and St Giles and St Andrews Special Schools. All of these schools have benefited greatly from their work with the Hat-trick Project through a variety of programmes. These include after-school clubs, lunch-time clubs, curriculum coaching, Healthy Lifestyle days, fundraising events, Inset Day provision, cover for teachers PPA time, coach education as well as tournaments and festivals for pupils to participate in.
The project cost £120,000 over the three years with an equal split of funding from the FA and NDC. Great strides have been made in order to make the project as sustainable as possible but with staffing costs being one of the major expenses it is unfeasible to expect the project to maintain its current level of activity without additional funding. The project now brings in additional income by charging for some of the curriculum based school coaching sessions and the holiday activities. This money is pumped back into the project to help pay for local residents who work for the scheme on a part-time basis.
The Hat-trick Project has managed to secure NDC funding until March 2011 but at a reduced level. Funding has also been awarded by the City Council Extended Services Revenue Budget, Derby County in the Community and the Football Association. However, core funding to allow the project to continue to work at its current capacity has been secured from the Football Foundation. The new 3 year programme begun in June 2009 and will continue the great work previously undertaken by the Hat-trick team.
