Brentford FC Ambassador Marcus Gayle joined the celebrations at Gunnersbury Park on Thursday as six participants graduated from the Trust’s inaugural Street Soccer programme.

Over the last five weeks, the participants have been attending twice-weekly sessions working on a mixture of football coaching and communications skills along with class-based education and development workshops.

The course culminated in a graduation ceremony where participants also received their Brentford FC Street Soccer kit to wear in a football tournament at West Ham United on Sunday.

Personal Development

Street Soccer Academy is a free five-week programme focused on personal development whilst providing a range of football coaching, mindset training and employability workshops.

Aimed at 17-25 year-olds who are either unemployed, living in sheltered or temporary accommodation the course provided an opportunity for participants to positively change their future prospects.

Enthusiasm and Commitment

Scott Southgate, Youth and Community Project Coordinator said, “We have been working together for the last 5 weeks delivering a programme made up of ten sessions. One side of it is football coaching to work on soft skills around communication and teamwork. The other half is classroom-based activity focused on interventions with wellbeing, mental health, resilience, positive mindset, employability and so on.

“The group have been fantastic and we are really excited to head to a football tournament at the iconic London Stadium on Sunday where our participants will compete against nine other Club Community Organisations from all over the country in the hope of making it to the final. Whatever happens at the tournament is a bonus because the journey that the participants have been on over the last 5 weeks is remarkable.

“The enthusiasm and commitment from the group has been fantastic to see. The course has given the participants a purpose and they have enjoyed coming together as part of a team. The skills learnt over the last month are transferable and they can take these forward with them in their future lives.“

Everyone at the Trust would like to wish the participants the best of luck when they compete in the Street Soccer tournament on Sunday.