The second new Soccer Centre runs on a Tuesday evening from 5pm-6pm and is held at Craigowl Primary School - again a large indoor facility open to children in P1-S1. This session has only been going for a couple of weeks but already Craig, Chris and their team hope it will grow as successful as the other projects, this will allow the team the chance to work with more budding young footballers.
Programmes and centres are also promoted by attending school 'Health Days' where the Community team deliver small taster sessions giving the children a quick insight in to what they can expect if they were to attend a community programme. These days are set up by the Active School coordinators to meet the curriculum for physical activity in schools, who then contact Chris or Craig and arrange a suitable time and date where the coaches can attend. The Community team have attended Downfield Primary School and David Lloyd Health club to target the Monifieth cluster P2 & P5's, Craigowl Nursery children, and Birkhill PS to help promote the Easter Holiday Camp which will be running this year.
Also during this period of time Dundee and Angus schools had Mid-Term breaks where pupils had whole days leave from school. DITC used this as an opportunity to offer a full day of football for the kids. The joint partnership with DFC, DUFC and the SFA offered a full day of coaching at three venues in Dundee – Grove HS, Fintry PS and Craigowl PS – with the format being delivered as a typical day at a holiday camp. The day saw over 150 kids participating across the three venues and proved to be a successful and worthwhile exercise – with each child being rewarded with a Match day ticket for Dens and Tannadice. Due to the timing of the Dundee and Angus Mid-terms, DITC were able to then deliver two further days of coaching in Coupar Angus and Kirriemuir. Over the two days a further 100 kids attended and even saw kids travel from Coupar Angus to the second day at Kirriemuir because they had such a great day at the previous session. DITC will continue to target these rural areas building the fan base of the club. The uptake of free tickets has seen a good turnover and familiar faces attending Dens to take in matches.
Back to school and continuing with the day to day life of the Community team, the guys have had three Hotshot fundraisers to deliver, again at venues both in Dundee and outwith. Hotshots is an event that applies the concept of using a radar gun to measure the speed at which the participant can strike a football, with the speed displayed in mph on a bright display screen. The school raises its funds by asking the children to obtain sponsors for their participation in the event. Each child who takes part receives a certificate with their top score marked. The best boy and girl from each individual class receives a medal, with the child with the fastest shot in the whole school winning the Hotshot trophy. This event has proved to be hugely successful and the kids have had a fantastic time taking part. Last year DITC & Hotshots helped Dundee schools raise over £26,000 towards various causes such as new sports equipment and turf for playgrounds to new computers. DITC also handed out signed DFC footballs and small DFC gifts as prizes for raffles to help generate more money for the school.
Chris and Craig along with their dedicated coaches have clearly given us the chance to get a taste of exactly what happens on behalf of Dundee Football Club on a day to day basis. The vision to make Dundee FC a community club starts at grassroots and spreads far and wide and this is why the Community team is such an important link in the process of trying to make Dundee FC the main focal point for football in the city and surrounding areas.
When we spoke to the guys about their Community programme they simply said “We like to do our bit for the club, and know that we are very lucky to have full time jobs in football – a game we both love. Together with the support of the Board of Directors, the manager and all the day to day staff we would like to make the community programme as successful as it can be”.
An interview of the boys talking about the community programme and their involvement within the Youth Development is available on DFCTV. It’s very interesting; they are a very hard working team doing their very best for both the Club and the Community and it’s an effort we should all be very proud of.
For more information on DICT, you can email Craig Feret or Chris Paton or talk to them by phoning 01382 826104.
Source: FOOTYMAD
