Students head to the home of English football

Two students from Tameside College visited St George’s Park National Football Centre to receive specialist training from the English College’s Football Association (ECFA).

Paige Fenton and Mohamadou Diao, received training for their new roles as football activators, including: how to engage new participants in football, the importance of physical activity and how to market football sessions to students.

The football activators programme is a national initiative to increase participation in football and other ball sports in colleges, which is managed by the ECFA. Students are chosen to become football activators with the aim of being a voice for the ECFA in colleges and to recruit new students to take part in enrichment activities.

The students also met England women’s team players including Izzy Christiansen and Jodie Taylor, who were at a training camp preparing for an international game against Kazakhstan.

Luke Podmore, sports development officer at Tameside College, said: “This was a truly inspiring day for both the activators and they will use this inspiration to engage more students on campus and give them all fresh opportunities to meet new friends and keep fit at the same time. Our enrichment offer is always growing and improving so to have support from the ECFA and beyond is amazing.”

Paige, former Droylsden Academy pupil and sports coaching student at Tameside College, said: “This is a great opportunity for me. The skills that I have and will learn in the role will help me in my future career and hopefully I can help lots of students discover a passion for sport. The training was useful and to meet the England women’s team was really inspiring.”