The Dundee FC In the Community team (DITC) consists of two full time Development Officers and twelve part time community coaches. The community team operates on a daily basis attending numerous venues and locations across the city and outwith, offering various activities from after school programmes, health days and fund-raisers to health talks and question and answer sessions.
Chris Paton and Craig Feret are responsible for the organisation and operation of the Community programmes and, over the months of February and March this year, they have offered us an insight as to what exactly they do and how it is done.
A detailed look at the programmes the guys offer on a daily/weekly basis is shown below; added to the number of extra activities which they are involved in, it clearly shows how hard working and dedicated the Community team really are.
Firstly the after school programmes - these run four days out of five during the working week. They are attended by seven schools; six from Dundee and one from Kirriemuir. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, DITC attend two schools on each day covering the city from Barnhill across to Menzieshill. The sessions run from 3.15pm-4.15pm where the sessions are focused on fun, enjoyable football games and activities; they are well attended and there is a high demand for places at each school that the Community team visits. Each child who attends and completes a block of 8 weeks receives a DFC match ticket for an upcoming home game.
A new initiative was started to target the rural areas surrounding Dundee in an attempt to expand and grow the community and give Craig, Chris and their team an opportunity to offer DITC’s services to areas and schools that previously have not had access to professional coaching. As a result, DITC are currently attending Southmuir Primary school for a six week period delivering fun and enjoyable sessions.