Youth charity The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and The Football League Trust have launched a ground breaking national partnership which will inspire, enthuse and motivate young people to achieve a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award through football across England and Wales.   On Friday 17^th October, Gerry Sutcliffe MP – Minister for Sport in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Clive Betts MP - Member of the Parliamentary Football Team launched the partnership at Sheffield United Football Club.  Margaret Hillyer from the Cobblers Study Centre and Russell Lewis from the NTFC Community Department made the journey up to Sheffield.  Northampton Town Football Club is now recognised as an approve centre to run The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in partnership with the Football League Trust.

At the Cobblers Study Centre we have been doing a lot of things and it has been really fun and exciting.  We have  been working on coaching younger children football skills.  We went over to Upton Meadows and taught them.  They listened  really well to Jordan when he introduced himself and Katie, Matthew and me, we played stuck in the mud without the footballs and the kids listened really well.  They were really good and they enjoyed playing the games.  They had fun but it was a shame that the room wasn’t bigger because we could have played a little match but because there wasn’t room we couldn’t do it. Next Monday we are going over to the school again and we are going to teach them again and give them certificates.  We are going to do some relays and I am going to do the introduction.  I am going to say “hello my name is Rebecca and I’m here from Kingsthorpe College today to teach you some more football skills.” I am doing the the first warm up game then Zac is going to do the second warm up game,  Katie is going to do the third warm up game which is traffic lights.  After that we are going on to do the skill games which are C-Factor with Zac, Cobblers Replay with Matthew and then the Penalty Shootout with all the coaches. Then after we have done all  of this we are going to do the presentation where all the children receive a certificate and all of us coaches take it in turns to hand them out to all the children.  Written by Rebecca.

Please check out PfS Press Online for all the latest news from our Playing for Success schools and daytime programmes.  Presentation evening dates at websites links are also included in this issue as well as news from our exciting Supporter to Report project!

The Cobblers Study Centre are very pleased to be working with two groups of secondary school students who are working toward their FA Junior Football Organiser qualification.  The two groups from Kingsthorpe College and The Northampton School for Girls have been working with us and the NTFC Community Programme to gain skills and experience required from the course.  Last week the students from Kingsthorpe College delivered a coaching session at Upton Meadows Primary School, it was a daunting task for all involved but there was lots of positive feedback from the teachers and pupils at the school.  In a few weeks time the KC students will complete their course by organising and running a Futsal tournament at Upton Meadows.  The students from NSG have only just started their course but we have been impressed by the hard work and enthusiasm that has gone into planning sessions.  We are positive that all the students taking part in the course will make excellent role models as coaches.

This evening, students from Sir William Parker School in Daventry have been continuing our theme of healthy eating week by designing match day menus for the Cobblers first team.  All match day menus consisted of a healthy balance of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and minerals and fats. The students also designed and created some fabulous smoothie recipes which can be seen below:

Masons Smoothie Recipe: The Stewart Little!

• 100 grams of strawberries
• 100 grams of pineapple
• 100 grams of pear
• Half a small cup of apple juice  

My recipe tasted like a dream, it was sweet and I could taste the strawberries the most.  I would make it again!

Joels Recipe: Tropical

• 125g pineapple
• 100g banana
• 1/2 cup of orange and mango juice

I liked my recipe, it tasted nice and reminded me of being somewhere tropical!

Charlotte:  Summer Surprise!

• 75g strawberries
• 75g raspberries
• 125g pineapple
• 1/2 cup of orange and mango juice

I thought my smoothie was sweet and I really liked it!

This week at the Study Centre we are focussing on healthy eating! 

Youngsters at the Study Centre have been finding out about what food groups make up a balanced diet and what a Northampton Town football player would eat on a match day.  Students from Southbrook Junior School used their knowledge to design match day menus for the Cobblers upcoming league match against Leeds United and then went on to design, create and sample their own smoothie recipes.

Budding chefs from The Gateway, Sir William Parker and Ashby Fields will be creating their menus later in the week. Check back here to see a selection of their recipes!

This evening eleven Year Five pupils from Southbrook Junior School came to the Study Centre to start their six week Playing for Success programme.  After filling themselves up on toast and a ’getting to know you’ chat with the study centre staff the young learners were thrown into team games led by Margaret.  The Southbrook pupils then demonstrated fantastic ICT skills to make colourful name badges.  We are looking forward to working with the Southbrook pupils in the coming weeks for some more exciting PfS sessions

If you are from Southbrook please leave a comment telling us what you thought of your first session!

The final day of Supporter to Reporter has almost come to a close.  The students today have been looking back on the weeks training and have put together radio packages on their personal space to reflect this.   On her blog Donna commented that the training week had been “tremendous”.   She also explained how she “learnt how to have a proper interview and how to use equipment properly.”  She summarised the week by stating that “It has just been one of those experiences that you can’t just have when you want it.  It has been a once in a lifetime kind of thing.  The staff have been so fabulous to us all.”

The students have started preparation for the match day that they will be reporting on at Sixfields on the 15th November.  After this match day the Supporter to Reporter experience will not end, in February this group of young reporters will move on to the Saints Study Centre to further develop their sports reporting skills.

To view blogs and listen to the radio programmes that have been produced this week please visit the Supporter to Reporter Website.

Today the trainee reporters at the Cobblers Study Centre were treated with a rare chance to visit local radio station Northants 96.  The mission of the day was for each young reporter to learn from the professionals how to record, edit and broadcast a radio programme. 

The morning began with the young reporters observing a press conference at the Sixfields Stadium.  Stuart Gray the Cobblers manager was being questioned about the teams forthcoming fixture at Walsall on Saturday 1st November.  All the young reporters were surprised at how low key press conference seemed as they were expecting a more formal question and answer session. 

The young reporters then headed back to Northants 96 to learn how professional recordings are edited until they are suitable for broadcast on the radio.  At the radio station the students were greeted by the stations events and marketing manager Gemma and Head of News Richard Purvis.  The students interviewed both the employees and picked up lots of advice about getting involved in the media and interviewing techniques.

Tomorrow is the final day of Supporter to Reporter training week at the Study Centre.  To listen to all the interviews and radio programmes conducted by the young reporters this week check out the Northampton space at the Supporter to Reporter website.