Today at the Study Centre, the Junior Football Organisers have been putting their organising skills to the test by setting up and running a round robin street football tournament on the X-Box 360. Each junior coach had to select a European team and write a player profile of their chosen dangerman on the team. The tournament was then played out on the consoles. To conclude the junior coaches had to construct a league table based on the results.

The group were also treated to a brief visit from Northampton Town goalkeeper Chris Dunn, who popped in to sign a few autographs for the young coaches.

Today is the second day of the Junior Football Organiser Course at the Cobblers Study Centre. This morning the boys led different skill sessions and got to practise their coaching skills in small groups alongside professional coaches Stuart Gray and Ian Sampson who were training the Northampton Town First Team on the same pitch. After a brief rain interlude this afternoon the young coaches led their individual sessions and completed a round robin football tournament on the training pitch at Sixfields. Tomorrow the young coaches will be back in the Study Centre for a day of fun activities and sessions.

Today at the Study Centre fifteen young people from Northampton and Wellingborough are taking part in Day 1 of a Junior Football Organiser (JFO) Course. This JFO course is being run in conjunction with the Football in the Community Programme and has been funded by an Awards for All Bid. The JFO is an FA certificate course for students 14 – 19 years. The course focuses around mini-soccer, where students learn coaching, the rules, refereeing and all that is involved in organising a festival/tournament. The culmination of the course and assessment is the students having to organise and run their own mini-soccer festival.

Today the group were given a brief introduction to the award and put their practical coaching skills to the test straight away. Just after lunch the group were treated to a visit from Northampton Town Youth Team Coach Sean Parrish. They asked him questions about how to advance their coaching skills and what qualities and attributes a professional coach needs to advance.

We are looking forward to having the group back for Day 2 tomorrow.

As an end of term treat pupils from St. Andrews School and Study Centre Staff went on a visit to Wembley Stadium and the their very own Playing for Success Centre called the Learning Zone. Wembley Stadium is known as the ‘Venue of Legends’ and is an all purpose 90,000 seater stadium. Walking into the stadium we were all amazed at how big and modern it looked especially in comparison with our own stadium at Sixfields which has a capacity of just over 7500!

On the Stadium Tour we got to stroll into the dressing room and sit where all the England stars prepare for a match, ask questions in the media room and walk through the tunnel towards the pitch. Finally we got to climb the 107 steps toward the Royal Box and imagine what it must be like to raise a trophy in front of a 90,000 fans. It was a good day out and a great opportunity to see what a world class football stadium looks like.

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