SBitC were at Ryton training ground yesterday to take part in the Gifted and Talented School Sport project, funded by the Premier League Charitable Fund...
Yesterday, saw the Sky Blues in the Community team run a festival for schools taking part in the Gifted and Talented School Sport project, at the Coventry City first team training ground in Ryton-on-Dunsmore.
The project is funded by the Premier League Charitable Fund, which allows the community team to offer free PE curriculum football coaching for Key Stage 1 pupils at schools in Coventry and Warwickshire.
As part of the project, boys and girls showing promise in PE lessons are invited to attend a six week after-school club with Sky Blues coaches - all of whom hold an FA Level 3 coaching qualification. The community team work closely with the Coventry City Academy to identify the most talented local players through the scheme to feed in to the Player Development programme and the club's Academy framework.
Whilst the pupils and schools benefit from the PE curriculum coaching and after school clubs, the young players also get a unique opportunity to play in a festival at the Sky Blues training ground - with yesterday's festival seeing teams from Willenhall, Frederick Bird, Alderman's Green, Aldemoor Farm and Wyken Croft primary schools battling it out.
Carl McNally, Head of Recruitment and Scott Curry (Under 5-11 lead coach) from the Academy both attended the festival yesterday, with Carl McNally saying, "We were really impressed with the standard at the festival. Two of the players have recently signed their first Academy contracts, with three players also recently joining the Elite squads within the community Player Development Centre initiative.
"It's great to see the young players using the first team facilities and the Gifted and Talented programme is a fantastic way of working closely with the community team to ensure we have a strong talent identification system and player pathway in place."
For more information on the Gifted and Talented project, or to register your school's interest in the programme, please contact Lucy Rhodes on 024 7678 6349 or email lucy.rhodes@ccfc.co.uk