COMMUNITY AND YOUTH UPDATE
DFC in The Community
DFC in the community is currently undergoing a few changes with current Community Development Officer Chris Paton heading for pastures new and joining the fire brigade. Whilst Chris will be leaving us on a full time basis, he will be remaining with the club in a role as a youth Development coach. The club have moved to appoint Gavin Burns to take over in this position. Gavin has been working for the club within our both our Youth and Community Programmes for around 5 years and we are looking to continue building our already successful community programme with Gavin on board. We would like to thank Chris for his commitment and hard work over the past 3 years and wish him all the best with his new adventure.
In terms of our programmes we have continued to build on our existing programmes over the last year.
After School – Last year we had 6 After-school programmes in Dundee. Over the last 12 months we have added two new schools and started delivering coaching sessions within these schools. We are currently coaching in Barnhill, St Luke’s & St Matthews, St Clements (New), Gowrie Hill, Forthill, St Pius (New), St Ninians and Craigiebarns. We have nearly 200 children participating in these classes on a weekly basis. All children had the option to buy DFC Kit this year and we have sold nearly 70 of these putting children back in dark blue right across the city. We have also branched out and did two blocks in the Angus area last year completing two 8 week blocks in schools in Kirriemuir. This is something we are looking to do again this year. All children receive a free match ticket at the end of each block they complete. Our Afterschool programmes try to target children from P1- P4.
Bobby Cox Soccer Centres – We have two currently running in the city. One in each end of town at Orchar Park, Broughty Ferry and one in St Andrews Primary Dundee. We have over 50 children participating in these two centres. Both classes run on a Saturday morning. Bobby Cox centres are for children aged 5- 12.
DFC in the community is currently undergoing a few changes with current Community Development Officer Chris Paton heading for pastures new and joining the fire brigade. Whilst Chris will be leaving us on a full time basis, he will be remaining with the club in a role as a youth Development coach. The club have moved to appoint Gavin Burns to take over in this position. Gavin has been working for the club within our both our Youth and Community Programmes for around 5 years and we are looking to continue building our already successful community programme with Gavin on board. We would like to thank Chris for his commitment and hard work over the past 3 years and wish him all the best with his new adventure.
In terms of our programmes we have continued to build on our existing programmes over the last year.
After School – Last year we had 6 After-school programmes in Dundee. Over the last 12 months we have added two new schools and started delivering coaching sessions within these schools. We are currently coaching in Barnhill, St Luke’s & St Matthews, St Clements (New), Gowrie Hill, Forthill, St Pius (New), St Ninians and Craigiebarns. We have nearly 200 children participating in these classes on a weekly basis. All children had the option to buy DFC Kit this year and we have sold nearly 70 of these putting children back in dark blue right across the city. We have also branched out and did two blocks in the Angus area last year completing two 8 week blocks in schools in Kirriemuir. This is something we are looking to do again this year. All children receive a free match ticket at the end of each block they complete. Our Afterschool programmes try to target children from P1- P4.
Bobby Cox Soccer Centres – We have two currently running in the city. One in each end of town at Orchar Park, Broughty Ferry and one in St Andrews Primary Dundee. We have over 50 children participating in these two centres. Both classes run on a Saturday morning. Bobby Cox centres are for children aged 5- 12.
Dee Academy - Our Dee Academy is a centre for children between the ages of 7 and 10 who we have identified as talent from our community programmes. This session runs on a Friday evening at St Pauls Academy and is seen as a feeder for our Youth Development System. Last season we put 6 players from this initiative into our development centre at under 11’s.
Holiday Programmes – Again this year we have continued our partnership with the SFA and Dundee United. By doing this we continue to be the best attended Holiday Football Programmes in the city and it promotes the local teams rather than outside organisations or clubs from other cities. These programmes run during the Easter, Summer and October Holidays at different venues across the city. We also run our DFC only projects in Kirriemuir and Coupar Angus in the Easter and Summer holidays. These programmes run from children aged 5 -12years.