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The West Riding's Laura Gadd and Marcus Strudwick joined some of
England’s brightest young leaders in July when they converged on St.
Georges School in Ascot for the inaugural FA young leaders camp and
there was a big surprise in store for Marcus.
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Laura and Marcus from Hanson School in Bradford attended the camp
after being nominated by the West Riding County FA as outstanding
candidates from the FA's Junior Football Organisers Course.
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The course, led by Pam Hoyle of the Bradford North Partnership, is
organised by the F.A and trains approximately 7,000 young
leaders per year.
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The purpose of the Young Leadership Camp is to deliver an
inspirational leadership opportunity for young people.
Nick Levett,
The FA’s school club link manager, said
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“The aim of the
Leadership Camp was to provide an excellent training opportunity for
some of the country’s top young leaders to be skilled across
disciplines as diverse as Sports Science, Coaching, Equity and Child
Protection, Futsal, Refereeing and Disability Football”.
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Laura, who plays football with Bradford City Ladies in the Yorkshire
& Humberside League, has undertaken the Community Sports Leaders Award
which demonstrates commitment to volunteering in sport.
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Marcus, who has also undertaken the Sports Leaders Award, plays for Thackley
u19's and is one of the county’s
budding referees. He also volunteers with Idle Juniors and local schools.
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Of interest to Marcus was that one of the tutors for the four days was
Ian Blanchard, The FA’s Head of Refereeing Development. Ian has a
total of 18 years’ refereeing experience with ten years at National
List level. The practical referee workshop was one that was very
positively received by the youngsters on the camp.
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Nicola Copley, Football Development Officer for the County FA said.
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"We are exceptionally proud of both Laura & Marcus, they both
demonstrated their commitment to volunteering within the
local community and both are outstanding volunteers"
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LEADING IN AFRICA
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| In addition to attending the camp
the young leaders had the
opportunity to be one of four to be selected to go to
Botswana with the FA’s International |
| Relations team which, in partnership
with the ‘Changing Lives’ programme, supports outreach
work, including running festivals for children. |
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Botswana
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| Marcus was delighted
to find that he is one of the lucky ones selected to
go to Botswana. |
| “I’m very excited to be one of the
four going to
Africa, the camp was a great week to practice my leadership skills and
to meet other young leaders. Going down to London and having Trevor
Brooking on our interview panel was an exciting experience in itself
and then to find out I was going, I now just cant wait to get out
there” said Marcus |
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Botswana wildlife
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Nicola Copley was equally
enthusiastic. |
| "Myself and many of the other Football
Development Officers on camp saw what a committed, motivated and
caring young person Marcus is and it is to his credit that he is off
to Africa" |
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| Last year saw the first delivery of the international placement programme
for young volunteers with three young leaders travelling to Lesotho,
Africa at which the West Riding also had representation through Laura
from Ilkley.
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The placement will provide a fantastic opportunity for Marcus to
take many of the new skills he has learnt to help others around the
world.
If you are interested in volunteering, or wish to
get into football, you can contact West Riding County FA Football
Development Team on
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0113 2822358
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or log on to
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www.TheFA.com/GetintoFootball
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.jpg)
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County's Nicola Copley (left)
and Pam Hoyle of the Bradford North Partnership with Laura and Marcus
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.jpg)
