Youth Development Week: Work Experience

Forest Green Rovers are affectionately known as the little club on the hill, however, in reality, it is a club with community at the centre.

Historically football clubs have always played a pivotal role in education, with both clubs and stadiums providing a great way to engage people of all ages in learning activities whether through promoting formal education sessions such as Fit2Last, Premier League Primary Stars or more informal visits like our eco-tours or cooking sessions.

Through all of our programmes, events, and activities we help people to fulfil their potential and consider their impact on their wider community and environment.

We have worked with the local Enterprise partnership to help school leavers develop interview skills and facilitate enterprise days as well as encourage volunteering through our ambassador scheme and ambassador Alumni and matchday opportunities.

Back in 2021, we hosted two A-level students from Hartpury College, Jamie, and Matt, on work experience - immersing them in community activities with the Trust FGR Community supporting Education and Employability.

Reflecting back on his time with us, Jamie said: "I thoroughly enjoyed my week at FGR, visiting a variety of different schools and taking on a new challenge each day.

"I enjoyed meeting new kids and getting to know them individually and their strengths and weaknesses during our sessions. I realised each child has unique thoughts and strategies which can be used effectively in our PE sessions.

"I feel like I've learned the best ways to teach the kids and to keep everyone involved for the whole session which gave me the confidence to put on my own sessions and lead from the start."

Matt said: "My work at Forest Green was honestly one of the most valuable weeks I’ve experienced.

"Due to the questions I asked and the surroundings I was in, everyone was more than happy to give me advice and help me get a better understanding of what I’d like to do upon completing college and the direction I’d like my career to head.

"I learnt a lot more from what happens inside a football club and the wide range of jobs available within it as well as shadowing the community side of the club. The community side of Forest Green is such a brilliant way of helping the local community and schools from delivering English and reading lessons to PE, all of which I joined in with and learned from."

Since their initial work experience, Matt and Jamie have volunteered as assistant coaches at our 2021 holiday soccer camps, where we paid for them to complete their L1 coaching course and are now paid coaches at our camps. They have since completed their A-Levels and are taking a year out before attending university, but continue to work at our holiday camps.

Jamie plans to go to university to study Sports Business Management, where he aims to develop a career in this field.

Matt has expressed his desire to further his coaching knowledge and experience. Through the community team, we hope Matt can join us in a greater capacity to deliver on our other projects such as Premier League Kicks.