Rotherham United

Premier League Kicks Case Study

Since September we have been delivering Premier League Kicks across multiple sites in Rotherham. One of our Hub sessions caters for various satellites within the central belt of Rotherham which is amongst the most deprived in the borough. Since September we have delivered activities to young people from Ferham and Eastwood who are mainly from the Roma community, at present we have over 100 young people accessing weekly as one part of our wider Kicks project. We have used the delivery of Kicks as part of a wider engagement tool that has seen us take part in Rotherham’s first carnival and graffiti art workshops.

As an exit route young people who are in the under 16 age group have the opportunity to play in our grassroots club United 4 Communities FC. The club offers team’s at u16 and 16-25 open age football. The club is specifically designed for young people who need additional support to play competitive football, the club breaks down barriers by providing transport, kit and no match fees for our players who may also face various social and cultural barriers. This season all 16 u16 squad members are part of our kick programme and 10 players of our older age teams are also weekly participant at Kicks. The club enables us to have more weekly contact time with young people which is helping us achieve stronger outcomes. This is a similar path to our new starter Pavol who has been supporting young people as part of our Kicks programme.

Introducing Pavol Puzo

We are delighted to appoint Pavol Puzo to an Assistant Community Coach position at the Trust. Pavol has recently started working as part of the Talent Match placement scheme which seeks to bring young people closer to employment. Pavol will be working alongside the Trust’s successful Cohesion Team delivering activities across Rotherham to support the development of young people. Pavol is no stranger to the Trust having been a valued participant on evening provision in Ferham for the past 5 years as well as being United 4 Communities FC captain for a season as part of the u16 squad. Pavol has started work supporting young people as part of the Kicks programme.

As well as an interest in coaching Pavol brings with him experience of working with the Roma community where his translation and language skills will be an asset to our future work.

On appointment Pavol said “I am very happy and satisfied with my job because I enjoy going out to the community, getting people more involved in different sports activities”

Mark Cummins Community Manager commented “This is a wonderful opportunity for Pavol and another step on his relationship with the Trust, one which started 5 years ago as a participant on our programmes in Ferham and alongside Winterhill, it is great to see him grow and develop in to a valued member of staff with the Trust and I wish him every success in his new role”

For more information about our Kicks provision please contact Mark Cummins
mcummins@rotherhamunited.net or phone 01709 827767