DESCRIPTION

The Kinetic Foundation is a registered charity engaging young people from Croydon and the surrounding boroughs who are suffering from disengagement and deprivation. There are severe disadvantages experienced in these areas, related to poverty, unemployment, poor education, and the resulting negative health behaviours that are associated with these factors. Our overall goal is to decrease rates of unemployment, and improve the educational aspirations and achievements of the young people who use our services. Using free football sessions to attract and engage with young people, we deliver a wide range of educational services alongside opportunities to improve employability, and provide access to dedicated pathways advisors who provide career-guidance and assistance. We provide regular opportunities for young people to obtain FA coaching qualifications free of charge. Once qualified these young people then become the lead coaches at the community football sessions; in this way our model ensures that many of the young people who have used our services ‘give something back’ through volunteering their time to run the sessions. The young people also enhance their CVs and improve their employability through regular football related volunteering in a recognised environment. The volunteer coaches act as role models and mentors to the young people in attendance, identifying and relating to any issues which the young people may be experiencing and helping them drawing from previous experiences. We also run the Kinetic Academy, an educational partnership with two local schools. This programme awards talented footballers identified from the community sessions a free scholarship to study for a Sport Btec, alongside training regularly, playing national and international fixtures and attending trials for professional clubs. Graduates of the Academy have gone on to work as coaches full time, attend prestigious Universities, and even play professional football.