"The focus is to improve on childrens school performance through sport..."
WELCOME TO 7TALENT COMMUNITY...
WHAT IS 7TALENT COMMUNITY?
7TALENT COMMUNITY is a community initiative aimed to encourage children to do better at school, using football to create an environment that supports disengaged children from Black African and Afro Caribbean backgrounds to improve on their education.
Statistical analysis have shown that amongst school children of Black Afro Caribbean backgrounds, and, or poor socio-economic status there is a number of concerning problems within schools, such as…
• Low levels of academic achievement
• Poor attendance
• High rates exclusion
• Unsuccessful Pupil – Teacher relationships
The reasons why is complexand extremely multifacetedspectrum ranging from issues such asa Lack of positive role models, hyper masculinity and reputation, cultural backgroundand traditions, peer groups and gang culture, relationship with authority figures, or simply learnt behaviour.
"We work closely with the children, teachers, and parents to set realistic and achievable targets"
HOW CAN WE HELP?
Our contribution to tackling these problems are by providing courses that use football to engage such children. Using Football allows us to teach children a long list of important life skills they are able to use on and off the pitch, in the classroom, at home and even wider society. Such as the benefits of team-work, problem solving, perseverance, and ambition. Our courses are geared towards inspiring children to improve on their levels of academic attainment, attendance and general school performance. The courses are delivered by culturally competent practitioners whom have lived experience and have a deep and personal understanding of the communities the pupils come from.
This initiative started from conversations amongst friends about our past school experiences, the environments we came from, our family dynamics and how these obstacles impacted our learning experiences and how we managed overcome the obstacles. With further research and studies we understood that the same problems and challenges we faced as young students then, are being faced by young students today. This was concerning for us and we wanted to figure out how we can help change this? It was then the community initiative was born. We started by putting together small football coaching packages in youth centers for children from lesser privileged backgrounds, the impact enabled us to realise a list of reasons why what we are doing is needed…
• We provided activities that took the children off the streets and prevent negative behaviour
• Their perspectives on social aspects changed for the better
• The behaviour of the children improved at home and in their communities
• Our past experiences meant we were relatable to the children and allowed us to communicate and engage them successfully
• Football acted as a platform for children to express a range of skill sets they were unable to express in school or at home
• Our child-led end of course activity provided a sense of ownership, achievement, ambition and success they had never experienced For us to make more of an impact we are bringing the initiative to schools, helping disengaged children improve on their school performance. Using our understanding of the environments disengaged children come from which means we can relate to them.
"We organise exciting reward trips, experiences and visits for those that meet their targets"
MISSION & CORE VALUES
Our mission is to assist schools with creating a learning environment that gets the best out of dis-engaged pupils, positively contributing to their development by teaching them key values they can use in school, in their communities and wider society. To empower less advantaged children improve and to challenge more advantaged children to do better educationally.
WHAT DOES A 7TALENT COMMUNITY COURSE LOOK LIKE ?
Each course is centered around a particular social theme, for example WELLBEING, this is then into sub-values that constitute well being…
1. Environment
2. Friendship
3. Hobbies
4. Exercise
6. Belief system
7. Confidence/Self-esteem
8. Diet
9. Sense of Purpose
10. Adapting to change
11. Society
12. Ambition
The above 12 values are then divided into pairs, each pair then becoming the focus of each session which will take place once or twice per week.
So session 1 will focus on Environment and friendship,
session 2 will focus on Hobbies and Exercise,
session 3 will see Sleep and Belief system as the focus and so on.
So the duration of this particular course will be 6 weeks. A 1hr classroom session will be used to discuss the 2 values, the application of the values will be implemented in the practical drills afterwards. The main objective of the classroom session is to establish an end of course activity which will be led, organised and carried out by the children, for example a football tournament for the school year group. Once the activity has been confirmed each classroom session will then be used focused on the activity organisation processes. Guest speakers will be invited to discuss the social themes and its value and how its impact, for example football agents and scouts amongst others discussing the value of ambition and sense of purpose with the pupils. The pupils are then taken out to the field (indoor or outdoor dependent on the weather)for 1hr 30 minutes. This will consist of a 15 minute warmup and 5 minute briefing on the social values discussed in the classroom and how they will be applied on the field. 2x15 minute football drills, 30 minutes small sided football games and 10 minute warm-down and debrief which is led by FA qualified footballcoaches.
WHAT IS OUR OBJECTIVE?
• To re-engage students with learning and wider school life
• Develop emotional regulation skills
• Improve on their self confidence
• Raise aspirations and self-awareness
• Toraise grades, attendance and behaviour
HOW DO WE MEASURE OUR IMPACT?
Working closely with schools allows us to gather the relevant information on each pupil to ascertain the impact our course has made and provide reports at the end of the course. Such as grades, attendance levels and general school performance. It also allows us to work closely with each pupil to set targets to improve on the aspects, and also implement things like reward trips and awards for the pupils that achieve those targets. Again this also allows us to monitor how successful we are on positively impacting the pupils.
FA Qualified Football coach with over 10 years experience in coaching most age groups, from under 7s all the way to under 18s. I can honestly say its my happy place, there have been a lot of highs and lows along the way but without the journey you can’t get to your destination. Being a coach in my opinion is more than what you teach on the pitch, you have to lead by example instilling values and confidence into the next generation
MEET THE TEAM
ALVIN GYAMFI
BRIAN SHEKONI
As a university graduate in business and sports science, my main ambition was to be involved in something that uses sports to positively influence change somehow. Being a part of 7TALENT COMMUNITY is a passion project for me, I have been exactly where these children have been and managed to navigate my way quite successfully. For me it’s important that I use knowledge and experience to help children overcome the same challenges I did.
SCOTT SWEENY
The fulfilment I get from coaching children and giving them confidence lets me know I’m doing what I love. I have my FA Qualifications and pursuing my UEFA badges, the more I know then the more I can give back.
