Summary
Using Scottish East Region community Football clubs for people with a disability to develop their social skills. With fun football activities they develop friendships, communication, teamwork and health improvements from physical activity. Their carers also benefit from significant respite hours.
What Respite and Personal Development Opportunities through Sport did
In 2017/18 we worked with 10 clubs and organisatons throughout Perth, Tayside, Angus and Fife to develop fun football Activity for Children and Young Adults with various disabilities. Providing these activities then provided thousands of respite hours for carers. We focused on developing these programmes in the local communities at community club venues, limiting any travel restrictions.
To develop each club we focused on the following aspects:
• Identifying local demand areas to develop disability football sessions
• Working with community football clubs to implement disability football classes
. Identifying, training and supporting new volunteer coaches.
• Supporting clubs to become sustainable and provide regular activity for children and young people to attend.
. Recruiting players to participate in both recreational and competitive activity
• Running Regular weekly or bi-weekly club activity to provide regular respite hours
• Hosting Club holiday programmes to provide significant respite hours.
- Working with key partners to link in with local community clubs, for example - Leisure and Culture Dundee worked with us to deliver a city wide ASN (additional support needs) class. Also Disability Sport Fife and Glenrothes Strollers worked in partnership to develop a new kids group.
One of our most successful programmes was providing 3 holiday programmes through Dundee West hosting day camps within school holidays which provided 832 hours of respite. On top of the holiday programme the weekly sessions also provided around 20,000 further hours of respite.
Developing these 10 groups has seen huge growth in players attending session therefore supporting more carers to receive more respite hours.
There is still more work to be done at Letham and Scone to make them self sustaining.
The school holiday camps have been a huge success everywhere we run them. They are a great opportunity to integrate with mainstream kids.
We have found it very difficult to find interested and suitable volunteers from parents and carers.
So we are working with the army to identify suitable veterans and with social workers to identify ex offenders.
What Glenrothes Strollers Community club SCIO has learned
1. We have learned that finding volunteers who are willing to do more than just coach football is very difficult. Most people don't want the responsibility.
2. Learning disabled young people at primary school age are very difficult to get engaged with this project. Potentially they are in schools where they have suitable sports activities and a support network of friends.
3. Carers really appreciate if we can extend our basic sessions from one hour to two.
This just makes such a huge difference to what they can do in the time available. Having trialled this with some groups, it is now being requested of us to deliver this whenever possible.
How Glenrothes Strollers Community club SCIO has benefitted from the funding
Our reputation has been enhanced all across the East Region and even Nationally as we have grown and developed several new groups in the past year. We have also developed one of the existing groups ability level so that they recently won a national football tournament.
We have also used the funding to help us expand the project services into new locations in Dundee, Arbroath and Crieff. As well as a new service in Fife for much younger kids.
Project Outcomes
Outcome
Ten organisations/groups around the East of Scotland will be offering fun filled football activities specifically for disabled children and young people with multiple support needs.
Results
Achieved - We have 10 clubs across the region offering regular football activities as targeted.
Only 7 of the 10 are now self sufficient, the others continue to depend on Glenrothes Strollers staff. This is due to difficulties in finding the right volunteers to get involved. Also late in the project we lost a key member of our own team. She has now been replaced and we are working hard to complete this outcome.
Case study
Ms C from Dundee.
Her son G started football training and playing matches with St James in Autumn 2017.
She says that G was very lonely, just stayed in his room all the time.
Then he heard at college about the football and they brought him along.
He is so happy now, he has lots of new friends and this is all he talks about.
The whole family is a lot happier, I even get some peace to go shopping with my daughter, or visit my old Mum.
Outcome
The majority of carers will be benefiting from some time away from their caring responsibilities
Results
Very well achieved.
100% of the parents/carers interviewed said that their whole family had benefitted from getting involved with the project.
Either from enjoying the respite time offered.
"I even get some peace to go shopping with my daughter, or visit my old Mum."
or through meeting and making new friendships with other parents who face similar problems, extending their own support network.
Case study
Mrs A from Kirkcaldy.
My son has had nothing to do since finishing at college and didn't have many friends.
He was pretty depressed and I was really worried about him. He used to get really frustrated and quite angry. We had lots of rows all the time.
I heard about Glenrothes Strollers from a woman at my work and J loved football at school, so we went along.
What a difference this has made for all of us. J is so much happier and gets really excited about his football. The whole family are so much happier (less rows) we are even going to watch sometimes. I like a chat with the other Mums.
Outcome
All carers using our project will have multiple, regular short periods of time to themselves, away from their caring responsibilities.
Results
Very well achieved -
Regular 1 or 2 hour sessions are being delivered at clubs all around the region.
Then on match days for several hours.
We are also delivering full day football festivals, that in turn offer full days of respite for the parents/carers, giving them significant periods to focus on their own lives away from caring.
Case study
Mrs T from Glenrothes.
We were also having some problems with our daughter K.
But A's behaviour has been so bad and he has caused us a lot of trouble.
So I couldn't sort things with my daughter.
Since he joined the football everything has changed.
Not only is he really happy and behaving so much better.
But now I get lots of time with my daughter K. we are getting on so much better and she is doing great. She even left home earlier this year and moved into her own flat, what a difference, we are just doing normal things together, going for a coffee or a walk round the shops.
Outcome
Carers using each of these 10 groups will feel part of a real community group where they can be supported by other carers who face similar challenges.
Results
Very well achieved -
100% of carers interviewed said that their own wellbeing had improved since they had got involved.
Many carers/parents are benefitting from the respite time away from their child and getting support from their wider family through using the respite time for better/wider engagement.
But many others are enjoying the new support they are getting from engaging with the new friends they have made as part of the club - other parents/carers facing the same problems.
Case study
Mr L from Perth.
Getting our son J involved with the football club has been amazing.
He is doing great and loving it, made some new friends, and he's pretty good at football too.
My wife is also much happier, she enjoys meeting all the other Mums when he is at training and having a good chat with them.
I think we are all enjoying feeling part of something bigger.
I guess we were all feeling a bit isolated before this.
The whole group is really supportive, not just for the young people playing football, but for all of us.
Outcome
10 self-sustaining groups offering regular weekly, fun based football activities for disabled children and young people across the East of Scotland. At least 5 of these groups will be so advanced that they will have pan disability football teams playing in the SFA Pan Disability football league.
Results
We have also successfully achieved this one.
Amazing to have so many clubs/teams taking part in national tournaments.
We are very proud of this as it is difficult to find enough good volunteers.
Case study
Please see 'Disability Sport Fife' Facebook page and Richard Brickley MBE, posting on 20th April 2018.
This is evidence of the amazing success of this project. We took 6 teams from around the region for a whole day out to Glasgow Green to take part in a national football tournament. What a great time everyone had. Story below and photos on their Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/DisabilitySportFife/
Disability Sport Fife
20 April at 12:45 ·
...
First time national victory for Glenrothes Strollers
History was made at the Scottish Disability Sport/Scottish FA national football 5s on Wednesday 18th April at Glasgow Green.
Glenrothes Strollers Football Club lifted the premiership award for the first time and became the first Disability Sport Fife member organisation in almost four decades to win a top honour in the open section at any national football championships.
This achievement cannot be underestimated and is fitting reward for a club that has made a significant commitment to football for players with additional support needs over many years. Glenrothes Strollers are fully inclusive in ethos and action.
Team members were: Lloyd Simpson, Cameron Page, Steven Anderson, Stephen Young, Daniel Henderson and Robert Anderson. The Strollers accumulated 12 points and won on goal difference after one of the closest finishes in the history of the championships.
Glenrothes Strollers also entered a team in the Championship section and finished in sixth position. Team members were: Ross Page, David Mair, Dale Lynch, Craig Wight, Scott Todd, Graham Telfer, Branden Seath and James Cunningham.
The success of the Strollers is undoubtedly due to the competencies of their coaching team and the commitment throughout the club to inclusive practice. Glenrothes Strollers have an ambitious and enthusiastic team of volunteers at the top of the club and it was only a matter of time before the club brought back a major honour to Fife. Well done the Strollers.
Disability Sport Fife, Glenrothes Strollers and Fife Sports and Leisure Trust are offering coaching for juniors 12 – 16 with additional support needs on Saturday mornings at the Michael Woods sports and Leisure Centre. Interested? Contact Disability Sport Fife.
Richard Brickley MBE – President Disability Sport Fife