Courtesy: FAI.ie


Girls encouraged to apply for Project FUTSAL

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

The FAI with the support of project partners such as the local Councils and VECs have teamed up to provide a unique opportunity for people who are unemployed and out of formal education and who are interested in football to get involved in an innovative project designed to help them back into the workforce.

PROJECT FUTSAL is a joint initiative between the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and the Welsh Football Trust with the core aim of using football as a social inclusion tool and has secured funding from the Ireland Wales Inter Reg IV Programme (www.irelandwales.ie)

The FAI is keen to emphasise that half of all places on the project are reserved for women and is encouraging all women with an interest in sport to apply for a place.

Local FAI Development Officers have targetted women’s local leagues and clubs as well as women’s organisations locally to highlight the benefits of participating on the project. It’s a unique opportunity which will see participants taking the first steps towards a career in sports development.

The project will run in seven centres from September in Ballymun, Carlow, Clonmel, Corduff, Clondalkin, Enniscorthy and Waterford and interested people can apply online at www.projectfutsal.ie

The overall aim of the project is to provide education and work opportunities for young people and to influence and assist community regeneration via employment and volunteerism. Project participants will undergo a course which features the Sport & Recreation FETAC 5 award as well as participating in coaching courses up to Youth Certificate level and will also enjoy many other football related modules such as video match analysis and strenght and conditioning.

As an additional incentive to project participants, the FAI is hopes to offer the opportunity of an Internship to a significant number of graduates of the project. This September will see up to 20 (twenty) new interns starting work in the FAI to assist local development officers to roll out football related social inclusion programmes in local communities. These first interns will be graduates from the Project FUTSAL hubs in Ballymun, Carlow and Waterford which ran over the last academic year.

The interns will be employed under the new Job Bridge scheme and will have the opportunity to see and experience first hand the role of a Football Development Officer in a number of local communities around Ireland.

Places on the new programme which runs from September 2012 to May 2013 will be offered to thirty participants from the local community at each project “hub” and it is hoped that course participants will be made up of an even number of male and female participants. It is also hoped that the extensive programme of football activity on each course will incentivise people to participate in the project.

The course is free of charge and participants may be entitled to certain financial support while on the programme. Interested people should check with their local social welfare office, job centre or VEC office to see if they are entitled to support through existing schemes.

The first courses begin in September and if you’re interested, you can apply now at www.projectfutsal.ie




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com