Shrewsbury Colleges Group pan-disability football team

This year Shrewsbury Colleges Group launched their first pan-disability football team.

The pan-disability pathway allows players of all genders with a broad spectrum of impairments and health conditions to play together. The majority of recreational and competition-based opportunities in England play this format, making it the largest disability-specific football pathway.

Anyone who has a disability, impairment or long-term health condition (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) can take part in pan-disability football sessions at the college.

The college will enter their ability counts team into several AoC tournaments with other FE colleges in the West Midlands and we will also be hosting several festivals here at the college in the coming years.

Dan Blasczyk is the Student Engagement Coach at Shrewsbury Colleges Group. He helped launch the pan-disability team and he coaches it every Wednesday lunchtime. He said, ‘’I recently joined the college and one of my first aims was to establish a pan disability team. Shrewsbury Colleges Group funded my Introduction to coaching football qualification through professional development which has enabled me to lead the sessions. The course is four weeks, with online webinars and you can complete the different modules in your own time. I would encourage any member of staff in an enrichment type role to consider the qualification.

Dan is assisted in coaching by Nathan Fowler who is currently studying a supported internship at a primary school whilst studying at Shrewsbury Colleges Group. Nathan has Autism, dyslexia and some moderate learning difficulties but this hasn’t stopped him in his academic journey. Nathan said ‘’I’m really benefiting from supporting Dan with the sessions. Sometimes Dan will ask me to take the lead and I plan some of our training drills and activities. Its really boosted my confidence and is giving me some real experience of planning physical activities. My internship involves helping with physical education sessions and that’s what I hope to do as paid employment in the future.

Connor Blagbrough who studies on the College Ready programme has autism and finds that football is a way in which he can express himself. Connor said ‘’I’ve always played football most recently for the Shrewsbury Town pan-disability side. I was really excited when Shrewsbury Colleges group launched a pan-disability team in September as this gives me more opportunities to play the game I love. Sometimes I can feel overwhelmed in closed spaces but when I’m on the pitch I feel free.

He added, "The first session was fun, everyone gets a touch of the ball and we all encourage each other in the sessions. I think its good that we rotate captains for each session giving everyone an opportunity to improve their communication skills and boost their confidence. I can’t wait to represent the college in tournaments this year."

Kathleen Jones is a mature learner studying part time hairdressing as well and functional skills Maths and English. Kathleen has a physical disability which can cause her difficulties with mobility but this hasn’t deterred her from taking part in the sessions. She said ‘’I noticed the sessions when they were advertised on Shrewsbury Colleges Group Facebook page. It immediately caught my attention as I’ve always enjoyed Football but there hasn’t always been an opportunity to take part especially when you have a mobility issue. I attended my first session in October and I’ve attended every session since. I'm now encouraging other female students to give it a go’’

Dan Blasczyk added ‘’on a typical week we have around 30 students taking part in our sessions, but the aim is to increase this week by week and have multiple games taking place. The students who take part are enrolled on wide range of courses such as the College ready, automotive, E sports and computing. More recently students who are studying the English for Speakers of Other Languages qualification have joined the sessions which is great to see. Going forward we aim to host a pan-disability tournament with colleges from around the West Midlands taking part.

Joseph Tomkins is a level 3 media student at the college, and he has been capturing footage of various activities taking place at the college which highlight equality and diversity.

Joseph attended one of the training sessions and directed his fellow media students on his course to capture parts of the session and interview some of the players taking part.

He said ‘’It was clear from interviewing the students how passionate they are about football and the opportunity to represent the college. I wanted to capture that passion as part of a bigger year long documentary I am producing which highlights equality and diversity at Shrewsbury Colleges group. A big passion of mine is to raise awareness of disabilities and special education needs and this is a great example of inclusion and equal opportunities. I hope that the documentary will help to raise the profile of the football so more students in the college may choose to take part in the years ahead’’.

Shrewsbury Colleges Group will be playing their first official pan disability game on Thursday 1 February against Telford College.