London Blog

Day 1

I arrived at the Street League office in Stratford where I met Ben North and Sophie Hope who I’d talked to previously to set up the volunteer placement. I was introduced to various staff members, and learnt how Street League works and what its aims are. I also took a look at some videos on Youtube, which are a great way of finding out a little bit about what the organisation does and some of the variety of projects it’s been involved in.

I went to my first training session in Whitechapel with Ben where I met some of the players and one of the coaches. We had a good kick about and a good time. The players came from a variety of backgrounds. Ben spoke to me a little about the issues some of Street League players face, and I found it interesting to learn that finding a hostel is actually a very difficult process and it is often hard to get past the standard bureaucratic demands to provide evidence that you’re actually on the street.

After the session, Ben and I went to a summer barbecue at the Limegrove homeless hostel to chat to some of the residents and to promote Street League. We all played a few games and got to know each other, and had a really good time. It was a great evening, so thanks to everyone from Limegrove!

Day 2

I had a chat with Riz, one of the coaches, who gave me an idea of not only what it’s like to coach for Street League but also what it takes to be a coach in general. One thing I took away was how important he considered basic people skills to be in order to become a coach, and how important these are in getting a group of individuals who don’t know each other and have come from different backgrounds, to get them to work as a team.

I then researched organisations such as hostels, youth offending centres and refugee centres in the Hackney area, which might be interested in becoming involved in Street League. It was interesting to learn about all the different organisations working in a similar field to Street League.

After this I headed off with Sophie to a session at Kennington Park. I took part in the training session, and even though I was shattered after the warm up, I kept going and had fun with the guys there. It was a great laugh.

Day 3

I had a talk with Rob, Street League’s Progressions Coordinator, who follows up on players to give advice on education or employment.

After that I headed off to my final coaching session with Ben which took place in Tottenham. We did some basic stretching and fitness followed by a 5 a-side game.I really had a genuinely good time working for Street League. There’s no doubt I liked some things more than others, but there was a lot of good people I met who were either working with Street League, taking part in it’s activities, or who I purely met by happenstance. Either way I enjoyed the experience a lot and wish everyone there all the best in the future…