Street League London

noreply@blogger.com (Gudrun Jevne) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:16:00 +0000

Our six brililant women's teams got a visit from Mercury Prize Winner Speech Debelle on the 2nd Street League women's only match day! Thank you so much to Street League Ladies Somers Town Long Lane FC Hayes The Fantastic 7 Randoms For playing fantastic football - fairly and with enthusiasm - and for turning up! Next tournament we will aim for at least eight teams, so if anyone can help me recruit new players/teams let me know! Call/text me: 07506 425 252 Email: gudrun.jevne@streetleague.co.uk with your ideas/contacts.. The tournament was SO GOOD, it has been covered in South London Press - see picture! The Laureus Sport for Good Foundation's widely read blog also features a story and pictures! http://blog.laureus.com/2009/09/street-league-match-day-with-speech-debelle-10th-september-2009/#more-592

Tribute to Tarpe

noreply@blogger.com (Gudrun Jevne) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:28:00 +0000

Tarpe is moving on to teacher training and further employment outside working as a coach and instructor with Street League. Tarpe has competently been coaching Street League Ladies until Monday of this week. She has also been running a brilliant fitness session at Tottenham Community Sports Centre for the Six 8 Four Centre, that the participants really enjoyed and also kept returning to! Tarpe has done a tremendous job with the Street League Ladies team, with high player retention, and at the same time the session has been recruiting new players - making it a large, stable and successful women’s grassroots football session. Recently Street League Ladies have represented Street League at tournaments in the David Beckham Academy and at the Kennington Laureus Launch match day. I do not think this would not have been possible without Tarpe’s hard work, making a team out of many different individual players and being a coach and leader at the regular Monday night sessions. Tarpe has done coaching courses and Directions 2 Work courses with Street League and is now an experienced coach showing great passion, attitude and knowledge of the game of football. She has also represented Street League at presentations to funders and at events and been an integral part of women’s development meetings and contributed greatly to working towards lowering the barriers to participation for women. On a personal note, I want to say thank you for all your input and contributions over the years at Street League - women’s participation would not be where it is without you! All at Street League wishes Tarpe the very best of luck with her new ventures – and Tarpe, please stay in touch! Gudrun

Laureus blogged us!

noreply@blogger.com (Gudrun Jevne) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:53:00 +0000

The large and prestigous organisation Laureus has blogged about us on their web-page! Right next to pictures of Usain Bolt, Bobby Charlton and Rebecca Adlington, amongst other accomplished sport people, our fantastic eight women's teams and our amazing two refs feature - checkout text and pictures from the recent women only match day in Kennington Park - Take a look!

Street League loses star player!?!?

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 10:46:00 +0000

In the mad rush of recent transfer news and speculation it may have passed under the radar that Street League is set to lose one of its star players. Despite the lucrative offers flooding in from Manchester City to play alongside Robinho and Barry, I have decided on a more modest transfer. From next week I will be plying my trade at South West London Law Centres where I have taken the post of Volunteer Services Manager.

I have spent a rather wonderful year and a half at Street League. I have met and worked with fantastic colleagues, volunteers, and players. I shall miss everyone greatly, thank you all for making my time at Street League really really good fun.

I am sure I will see a lot of you at future Street League events!

Sophie (Manchester city are the greatest football team in the world and Richard Dunne is the world's best defender and no one can ever say otherwise) Hope

Article in the Evening Standard

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:32:00 +0000

As mentioned on the news page, we've been nominated for the Beyond Sport London Legacy Awards. Five projects are competing for the award, looking for the project that best uses sport as a vehicle for positive social change. The awards are in partnership with the Evening Standard who have written a piece about the five nominees.

Obviously they're all very worthy projects and may the best project win. If anyone is undecided who to vote for then...

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR STREET LEAGUE

Beckham Academy Cup Competition Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Gudrun Jevne) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Dear all,

Just want to say a big thank you to everyone taking part in the biggest ever Street League women’s football tournament at the David Beckham Academy this Friday! We have had some positive feedback and thanks already that I would like to share:

“Hi Gudrun,

I just wanted to say thank you for letting my girls play at the Academy on Friday, they all loved it. Hopefully I can get 2 teams together for the next tornie, just send me the details of where and when.Thanks again

Kate” Team Manager and organiser The Panthers. “Dear Gudrun, On behalf of myself and all of the Ladies who are the Crouch End Tigers, Ta very much for another fine day out. We all had a fab time and look forward to the next time we can do it all again. Keep in touch” James Team manager Crouch End Tigers “…very well done for organising a brilliantly run tournament on Friday. We thoroughly enjoyed it.” Sharon Brokenshire Team Manager South London Terriers

Feel free to put feedback and comments below, and I hope to see you at the next tournament! Street League are organising a women’s only match day next month: Wednesday 15th July, Kennington Park Astro-Turf, 11am – 4pm. Gudrun

Feature on the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation Website

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:23:00 +0000

A few months ago we achieved accredited status for our mentoring scheme through the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation. We wrote about it then on the London News Page and now they have written a little bit about us.

David Beckham Cup Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:16:00 +0000

The end of season Cup Competition is nearly here. The tournament will be held on Friday 12th June at the David Beckham Academy in North Greenwich (next to the O2 Centre) and will include a men & women's cup and plate competition, skills competitions, food, prizes and much more. Previous tournaments at the Beckham Academy have been a huge success and this one will be no different.

Places are filling up fast, so register now!

Please register your team by the end of this week (Friday 5th June) to guarantee a place. Preference, as ever, to teams who have regularly trained and attended matchdays.

Any questions, comments etc - post them here.

SELF DEFENCE AND GOAL SETTING 13.03.2009

noreply@blogger.com (Gudrun Jevne) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:32:00 +0000

Sophie Hope, Rachel Zipfel, Charlotte Gilsenan and Gudrun Jevne from Street League welcomed an unprecedented number of 37 participants at a Self Defence and Goal Setting day held at Endell Street and The Gym, Covent Garden. Participants came from various Street League sessions: Covent Garden, Brixton, Clean Break (Kentish Town) and Greenwich Islamic Centre (Plumstead) fitness sessions and from the Somers Town women’s football session - bringing people from different Street League sports sessions together in order to - hear about Street League and Dress for success: the sessions, the courses, the opportunities! - set goals for the future. - learn about personal safety and self defence: verbal skills, assertiveness and physical techniques. Thanks to encouragement and support from staff and volunteers from the Migrants’ Resource Centre, Church army hostels and SLAM for getting so many committed participants to the workshop. Also thank you so much to the brilliant staff at Endell Street supporting us throughout the day adapting to ever more people coming through the door -! The previous world record for women’s participation at a Street League workshop was 10. Before that it was 4, so this was a great landmark in terms of women’s participation. Through hearing about Street League’s and Dress for Success’ opportunities, participants were armed with ideas to put on their Action Plan. On individual Action Plans goals were identified and put down on paper, next steps were decided upon and some tools were given for how to achieve one’s goals. The self defence discussion was powerful – when the brilliant instructors from the London Centre for Personal Safety opened the session with “why are you here – what are your fears?” the group was not short of answers. People could share experiences, and the instructors with 30 years experience in the field responded to the contributions with great insight and warmth. When one violent attack was described by a participant, the instructors asked “did you know this person who attacked you?” the answer was “he told me he loved me”. The sheer number of powerful contributions to the discussion demonstrates the real need for this type of workshop. One of the most important messages from Claudia, one of the self defence trainers, was that stereotypical feminine displays (crying, pleading, being submissive) are not useful, in fact in can make a difficult situation a lot worse. Instead we learnt and practiced assertiveness and taking control of the situation. Useful and clever aspects of personal safety and self defence were highlighted and physical techniques practiced (see pictures). The participants’ feedback was that the workshop was both empowering and gave confidence. If you participated, please feed back to us what you thought about the day, what was good about it and how we can improve it for next time! If comments are of a personal nature, email me on gudrun.jevne@streetleague.co.uk

Goals Project QPR Team 32 Graduation Ambush

noreply@blogger.com (bill) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:44:00 +0000

Friday's graduation was a great event. Ray Clemence was the guest speaker. Setanta Sports was filming the event with an eye on a future story. All was going to plan; this was shaping up to be another wonderful event for both the participants and Street League. During one of the participants' speeches, however, a man banged - quite hard - on the door and entered. It brought all proceedings to a halt, everyone simply stared at the guy. My first thought was fire drill or bomb scare. Then he said, "I have someone outside who wanted to say hello," and in walks Fabio Capello! Wow! The whole room was electric, and I could see the Setanta Sports reporter scrambling to get the camera in the best possible position. Fabio went onstage and, in his broken English, passed on congratulations and best wishes to the Goals Project team. Then he told Ray they have a lot of work to do and NOT TO LET IN ANY MORE GOALS!!! It was a funny moment, even if you had to wait a second to comprehend his English! He left soon after to wonderful applause. He generated a great atmosphere and it was a cool moment. The rest of the graduation went really well-lots of great speeches and Ray Clemence's words were inspiring. Looking forward to the next graduation!

Zambia Visit

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:54:00 +0000

On Wednesday 4th February, our Head of Operations, Charlotte Gilsenan, flew out to Zambia for the second Football for Hope Monitoring and Evaluation workshop. Street League is part of a pilot project, funded by FIFA and Streetfootballworld to design and implement a bespoke monitoring and evaluation system for the sports for development sector.

“The week was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about the real need for a monitoring and evaluation system, specifically designed for the sector. I feel very fortunate to have been part of its development and enjoyed the workshop tremendously,” said Charlotte.

The week was made up of a number of workshops looking at data collection methods and tools as well as the implementation of the system itself. Three field visits were arranged during the week, alongside the more theoretical elements of the workshop which gave a real insight into a wide range of sports for development activities. These included drills and exercises incorporating HIV and Aids education, and health awareness exercises on how to avoid cholera and malaria.

The whole visit was extremely worthwhile and a great opportunity not only to learn more about monitoring and evaluation but about the sector as a whole.

GX vs Street League

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Please enjoy the next instalment of our GX volunteer's blog for Street League. The first is from Pauline...

Hello again! It’s been a while since I wrote, having been kept busy at Street League and in the other aspects of Global Xchange.

A couple of weeks ago the team of 18 GX volunteers went up to Cambridge for a weekend break where, on the last day of our stay, a few of us managed to get away and we hired a punt to take out on the river. Being enthusiastic to try punting myself but not wearing the appropriate footwear (high heeled boots) to balance on a moving, slippery bit of wood I braved the cold, took off my boots, rolled up my jeans and after several false attempts in which I nearly sent the boat into the bank I started to get the hang of it. From thereon in it all went smoothly with only minor mishaps such as Nick (another volunteer) getting the punting pole stuck in the mud and leaving it upright poking out of the river surface, and the punt carrying on moving, much to the entertainment of a crowd on an overhead bridge.

After our break it was back to work, attending more sessions, carrying out progressions surveys and spending time in the office doing job searches.

However, last week Street League let us take time out from the office to take part in the Community Sports Leadership Award (CSLA), one of the Directions to Work courses (D2W) at Millwall FC. As well as taking part and getting the opportunity to gain an award it was a valuable opportunity to gain an insight into the progressions side of Street League. We both really enjoyed the week and learning how to run a fun and structured session for children (which included me embracing my inner-child to carry out “superman stretches” as part of the session). Both Ben and I passed the CSLA and after a long week expected to be straight back in the office on Monday. However, it was not to be, as I woke on Monday morning to be greeted by the most snow London has seen in 18 years and a text off Sophie saying the office was closed! Being unable to resist the lure of cold white powder I met up with friends and spent the day wondering in parks and having snowball fights with any random stranger who looked at though they would be willing to rise to the challenge. The unexpected snowfall caused London to slow down which meant that strangers had the time to pass a smile between themselves and share in the child-like excitement that snow often brings.

Now we are in the office again, knuckling down to work. We have to collate all the information we gathered from the progressions surveys and put together a report. We have just over a week left here and so will be putting all our effort into finishing it so that our time at Street League will have been profitable. I’ll be sad to leave Street League as it has been brilliant, with the right amount of work and fun. But I’m trying not to think of that right now, especially as there is still so much to do before the end!

Feb 09 D2W update

noreply@blogger.com (bill) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 14:24:00 +0000

QPR Goals Project Team 32 started last week. Despite a one-day delay due to the snowy conditions, we had 28 starters! An excellent result! Rob Woolley is the co-ordinator and reports that the team size is now a more manageable 22, and they are progressing nicely. Mick Brosnan is running a Goal Setting day at Millwall this Friday, 13th of February. If this date scares you, please be aware that March also has a Friday the 13th, so be wary! The Goal Setting day is now being recruited for so please send any enquiries to Mick at: Michael.brosnan@streetleague.co.uk Goals Project Millwall Team 16 commences on Monday 23rd February and is also being recruited for at the moment. Any enquiries to the same email above.

Who is the best team in street league?

noreply@blogger.com (Rizwan Aboo) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:28:00 +0000

The Teams I Coach I coach many players at street league and enjoy the job I perform. I often get asked by the players if I think there team is good and from what I see on the training ground my answer is generally a positive one. However I must say that training and matches are very different from each other, everything in a match is done at high tempo, where as, in training more work is focused on touch, technique, decision making and end product. Who Is The Best Team? I can not really say who one of the best teams in street league is as I consider all of my teams to be very strong but what I do think is that the teams I coach are the best teams within street league. Are You up For The Challenge? If any of the other coaches want to disagree then I suggest you get your teams down to match days and we can let the football do the talking. In previous months my team has won and come as runners up in the tournament. Comments On Fellow Coaches Nicky G.....your players claim to be the best players but I do not see them at match days....bring them down and let’s see how many ballers you have. Your players can not claim a stake in something they do not participate in Jack.......your North London lads are mouth and no actions, they talk about how they are the best but you have to beat the best to be the best and as far I as I know your players have not beaten mine to date. Sam.......well you had a lucky day at the last match day and we will be coming to take what is rightfully ours. So anyone who is up for the challenge then get down to the match days and lets put on a great show for all, let the football do the talking. Yours Truly Rizwan Aboo

Tom Miles - Photographer Extraordinaire

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:25:00 +0000

As you look around this fine website, I'm sure you've been thinking what wonderful images we have that capture the very essence of the work we do. Most of these images are taken for us by a very talented professional photographer, Mr Tom Miles. Tom has been taken pictures for Street League - for free! - for a number of years now. Those of you who've been with us for a while, may remember this particular image.

Tom is always available to take pictures at short notice and has photograghed training sessions, matchdays, cup competitions and Directions 2 Work events. Many of the pictures have ended up in our marketing literature, such as the impact report and our brand new outreach flyer.

Many thanks to Tom for his ongoing support. In a piece of incredible cyclical web back patting, Tom has written about us and his involvement on his excellent blog.

Football in Camden

noreply@blogger.com (Gavin Atkins) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:21:00 +0000

For the past three months Street League has been running a session at Somerstown Community Sports Centre in Camden on Tuesday between 1.30-3.30pm. The session has been aimed at inceasing physical activity amongst homeless men in the borough. Due in no small part to the coach Aderito Francisco the session has been a huge success. Or maybe it's been the free travel and t-shirts, provided by Camden Primary Care Trust (PCT).

In January, accompanied by Charlotte Gilsenan, a few of the PCT staff came down to the session to officially hand out the T-shirts, boots and beanies and see how the session was going. They were impressed with the football took some pictures. One of which ended up in The Camden New Journal.

If you're interested in sending anyone to the session, or attending yourself, contact Ben on 020 8536 5331.

FOOTBALL TRAINING CANCELLED!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:16:00 +0000

Street League football training sessions are cancelled today - Wednesday 4th February 2009 and may be cancelled tomorrow and Friday depending upon the weather. Despite roads and transport links improving the pitches we use are still covered in snow and ice. If you have any questions please call us on 0208 536 5331.

Global Exhange update...

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 10:57:00 +0000

Before Christmas Pauline and Ben posted their first blog about their time with Street League and Global Exchange. Here is their next installment...if anyone is interested in hearing more about VSO/British Council's Global Exchange programme, and indeed volunteering with Street League, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Ben: (middle back with Arsenal hat on)

This Christmas was the best ever and it happens to be my first Christmas away from home. At first I was a little bit worried thinking I’m not going to enjoy it but it happens to be great. I met a lot of new friends new family and everybody was very nice to me, most especially my counterparts parent were really amazing they were full of surprises and very caring they take me as their own son.

On the eve of Christmas my counterpart took me the Worcester cathedral which was big and nice and we also went to the cricket ground which was also beautiful, the next day which is Christmas we played different types of games on the play station afterword’s we eat drink a lot of wine dance their own kind music because everybody in the house except me love country music and later the gave me a lot of gifts, so the next day the surprise me with a ticket to watch arsenal and villas game live and the funniest thing is I was an arsenal fan sitting on villas fan side it was a great game I really enjoy myself .

Pauline: (front right with green jumper on)

Happy New Year everyone!

We’re back in work after our Xmas break. I spent a week back home in Wales and took my Nigerian counterpart home with me. He seemed to enjoy it, and for some reason, was fascinated by the sheep and posed for endless photographs with them. The week went by all too fast and after experiencing a British Xmas my counterpart and I trekked back up to London to spend New Year with the whole Global Xchange team where we saw in 2009 with much cheer and more dancing.

Now, we’re back in street league for the next two months. Our original project was the players’ survey. However, that has changed and now, we are helping Rob with the progressions monitoring and evaluation. Part of this involves phoning up players to fill in a survey form. The first time I phoned a player I accidentally ended up ringing up all the office phones and having Riz talk to me at the other end. However, now I have it sussed and slowly making it through the long list.

We’re also getting a chance to carry out face – to-face questionnaires and will be attending more sessions, so I’ll be seeing you all out and about!

Ben's Blog...

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:07:00 +0000

And here is Ben's first blog...

My name is Ben I am from Nigeria on a programme called global xchange which means is an international volunteer programme which gives young people at the age of 18-25 the opportunity to share ideas, skills and also achieve knowledge from each other and other people in and around the community they are being placed, they volunteers are been placed in different host home (in counterpart pairs) and organisation in which they volunteer in that community for three months and then move to the other community for second phase which is also three months, my organisation or my volunteer placement is a secondary school in Akure (Nigeria) I teach the kids computer from the stone age when early man start his life to the information age when computers were available for everybody, the kids were amazing and always concentrating in the class. I usually organised debate and quiz for them every two, two weeks after that I conducted test and exams for them 85% got credit while 10% got pass and that was really encouraging to me and their principal was very impressed about their performance and she even promised to get more text books and computers for them. Every Wednesday and Fridays of the week we organised GCD (global citizenship day) and CAD (community action days) the GCD is between two counterpart pairs who are staying in the same house, me and my counterpart did our GCD on volunteering, the importance, benefit and also it’s disadvantages. And the CAD comprise of everybody including the people of the community we normally ask the people what is their problems in the community so when get their answer we react on it, some say free education and climate change and unemployment etc so we organise a seminar we mount a bill board, distribute waste bin to market women and taxi drivers and also visit primary and secondary schools all in the name of education and climate change, we also visit some of the commissioners, their governor pleading with them to always here the cry of the people so they agreed to their best. Before I come London I was having deferent kinds thoughts, things that crushed on my mind were racism, unfair treatment people not being friendly, people talk very fast, they drink a lot, time conscious etc some of my perception were true while some are not, everything seems to be different here in London and choosing my placement I really wanted to work with Street League because I love sports and also like working with different people and I made to understand that Street League is all about converting the lives of disadvantaged people to become better than they expected and after that the unleashed them to the community, and that really add more grease my elbow.

Global Exchange are here!

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 10:22:00 +0000

Over the next three months Street League are lucky enough to have 2 Global Exchange volunteers with us. Global Exchange is a partnership between British Council and Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). Please may I introduce Pauline and Ben. They will be updating everyone each fortnight with the goings on and meanderings of a Street League volunteer. Pauline and Ben will be attending many of our training sessions, and so I am sure you will all make them feel very welcome!

Here are the first of their blogs...

Pauline:

Hi, I’m a new volunteer at Street League where I’ll be staying for the next 3 months. I am on a 6 month volunteer programme called Global Xchange run by British Council and VSO. The exchange is between the UK and various countries in Africa and Asia. My exchange is between Nigeria and the UK. GX is for young people between 18-25 years to be active in the community. There are 18 youths in each exchange, 9 from each country and we are placed in host homes and volunteer placements in each community. In addition, each exchange has a theme, ours is climate change and access to education. The first phase of my programme was in Nigeria where I was placed in an education foundation which is about giving skills to and empowering those with physical difficulties. I was also part of the team which organised a seminar on climate change aimed at local secondary schools and NGO’s. Aside from the work aspect, living in Nigeria was a very different experience to the UK. From having to put on factor 50 each day, bartering prices with taxi drivers and trying all the local food from intestines (not nice) to pounded yam (nice). In our free time the team hung out together, went on trips and climbed waterfalls! Now, I am in the second phase of my programme which is in Newham, London. I have been given a new work placement in Street League where I’ve been for 2 weeks now. From the first day here, I knew I would enjoy this placement. Within a few minutes of entering the office and meeting Sophie Hope, the volunteer co-ordinator I was offered tea and crumpets and made to feel at home. I started to get to meet everyone in the office, who were all very welcoming. Riz, one of the coaches gave Ben (my work counterpart) and I tickets to go and see Charlton v Coventry. So, that night I went to see my first ever football match! In the past two weeks through meeting various members of the Street League staff I’ve been discovering what Street League does and how it functions. It’s a really interesting scheme and seems to be working well. My work counterpart and I have been asked to carry out the annual player’s survey so we will be able to attend training sessions around London and meet the players. This Monday saw us taking part in one of the football sessions coached by Aderito. I wasn’t the best player on the pitch but it was still great fun playing 5-a-side and the players were very accepting of us joining in. From January onwards I’ll be out and about carrying out the survey for Street League (and maybe joining in the odd football session)!

Season's Greetings from all at Street League!

ben.north@streetleague.co.uk (Ben 'Pompey' North) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:18:00 +0000

Street League would like to wish you a Merry Christmas and New Year. Unfortunately, even our super-fit coaches need a break so sessions will stop Friday 19th December and re-start the week beginning Monday 5th January.

Street League also has a Matchday on Wednesday January 14th 2009 at Paddington Recreation Ground from 11am.

User Involvement Meeting - 15th December

ben.north@streetleague.co.uk (Ben 'Pompey' North) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:04:00 +0000

Players and Staff are all invited to help us develop the future of Street League! We want your thoughts on what we can do better so please come along to Limegrove Hostel, Shepherds Bush, W12 8EE on Monday 15th December from 2pm to 4pm to share your opinions with us.

Mince Pies will be provided......

5 A SIDE LEAGUE RE-STARTS 10th DECEMBER!

ben.north@streetleague.co.uk (Ben 'Pompey' North) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:55:00 +0000

You may have realised that 10th December is a weekday. You may even be typing out an email to inform us of this 'mistake' but stop! This is no mistake! This is a deliberate move by Street League to get more teams to matchdays.......so help us by entering your team into the best 5 a side League in London!

All teams need to arrive at 11am as usual for a midday kick off.

Matches are not in the cages - we have decided to move to the 11 a side pitch at Mile End which will be divided into 4 smaller pitches with larger goals (apologies to all goalkeepers). If you want to come along please email gavin.atkins@streetleague.co.uk to register your interest!

Taking part, is just the start.......

Maria Marin's Mallorcan Memoir...

noreply@blogger.com (Sophie) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:39:00 +0000

Maria Marin has been volunteering at the Street League offices since November 2006. Maria comes from Majorca in Spain (not sure what she thinks of the English weather compared to home!). The following is a blog about her voluntary work so far at Street League…

I have been volunteering with Street League for 2 years. I wanted to do voluntary work to help me to develop more effective computer skills and furthermore to improve both my written and spoken English. I love to play football and I also enjoy watching it on television. I searched the Internet to find an organisation that related to football, and that could offer me the type of voluntary work that I wanted.

I came across Street League and the reason I chose them was due to their connection with football and also their work with young people from different backgrounds. Moreover they encourage young people to take part in courses, such as coaching and refereeing courses, and CV writing workshops.

I find the work I do for Street League to be very interesting. At the moment I am doing administrative tasks in the office such as inputting the details of the volunteers and players into spreadsheets and files. I sometimes go to meetings with the staff outside of the office, for example I recently attended a meeting with Sony. I also volunteer one Saturday a month at the matchdays at Mile End. Here I help to take the scores for the matches, put up banners and posters, and also sort refreshments for the players.

Since being at Street League I have more administrative knowledge, and developed other skills.

The environment in the office is very friendly and I find the staff funny which helps to create a good and relaxed atmosphere in the office and more relax.

I wish to continue to build and develop my skills, and hope to gain experience in other departments at Street League.

People of Camden!

ben.north@streetleague.co.uk (Ben 'Pompey' North) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:48:00 +0000

Street League are teaming up with Camden Primary Care Trust to get more people in the borough into sport. We are holding a short presentation and meeting at the grand offices of the Football Foundation, 15th October from 2pm to 4pm. If you work in mental health or the homeless sector in Camden Borough and are interested please let us know by emailing ben.north@streetleague.co.uk before Monday 13th October. Tasty refreshments will be provided but we can't promise Hob-Nobs what with the credit crunch.