Saturday, 21 February 2015

The hugely successful Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz initiative will launch a Premier Skills Social Inclusion Coaching programme for coaches and coordinators of the nine India Premier League Clubs on Saturday 21 February at Alipore Bodyguard Lines, Kolkata.

Two coaches from the English Premier League will be in Kolkata from 21 to 27 February to help train the participants in this course, which mixes a cooperative approach to learning in the classroom with on the pitch sessions to help develop skills as social inclusion coaches and coach educators.

Premier Skills is a partnership between the British Council and the Premier League. It uses football as a tool to help develop both community coaching and English language skills. The programme trains sports coaches, referees and youth leaders who then return to their own communities with enhanced leadership skills and a greater understanding of the role football can play in tackling social issues.

Kolkata Goalz, a project derived from Premier League Kicks, is a community cohesion project that builds positive relationships between young people in deprived areas and the local authorities through sport.

Over the three years that Kolkata Goalz has been operational, it has taken place in 12 venues across Kolkata, covering 24 police station jurisdictions and reaching out to over 1,000 young people (aged between 12-18 years)  via weekly football training sessions, tournaments and English language learning.

The project is led by the Premier League and the British Council, in association with the Kolkata Police, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, All India Football Federation and Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and delivered by nine India Premier League Clubs.  

The February 2015 programme will be led by Head Coach Graham Robinson of Sunderland Association Football Club supported by Katie Bottom, Development Coach from West Ham United Football Club.

The coaches and referees will receive training from qualified Premier Skills coaches, giving them the skills and support to develop their own community football projects, develop a better understanding of social inclusion coaching and its goals, community inclusion and football development. Sessions on nutrition, conflict resolution, barriers to women participating in football and mentoring will also be included.

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore said: “At home the Premier League and our Clubs have a long-held commitment and reputation for delivering high quality community and education programmes. Given our popularity and success internationally we felt it only right to take this approach to a wider community. Premier Skills has already taken place in 26 countries, developing over 2,800 new coaches and referees all over the world. These coaches have already delivered work that has benefited a further 550,000 young people. I am thrilled to see Premier Skills returning to Kolkata, delivering training to a core group of local community coaches ensuring the Goalz project’s long term sustainability.”

Sujata Sen, Director, British Council East India said, “We are delighted to have the coaches from the Premier League in Kolkata. Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz has been our very successful partnership project with the Premier League in East India. It combines English and football, two universal languages and with the support of our local partners here — the Kolkata Police, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, All India Football Federation and Indian Football Association (West Bengal) and the nine India Premier League Clubs — we have reached young people across the city. We hope the coaches find this training useful.”

The training will end with a demonstration of the skills that the coaches have learnt over the course of programme. This will be showcased on Friday 27 February, in the afternoon, at Alipore Bodyguard Lines, Kolkata. 

The finals and prize giving ceremony of the annual Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz Tournament will also be held at the same venue on Wednesday 25 February. The tournament involves youngsters trained under the Premier Skills Kolkata Goalz programme. 

 

Notes to Editor

Premier Skills is a partnership between the Premier League and the British Council which uses football as a tool to develop a brighter future for young people around the world. 

It draws upon the Premier League’s global appeal and expertise in delivering community programmes in the UK, alongside the British Council’s global network, track record of delivery and world class expertise in English. 

Premier Skills is a proven model, having already delivered tremendous impact in 26 countries up to 2014: Afghanistan, Botswana, Brazil, Cameroon, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Qatar, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia (including Libyan participants), Uganda, USA, Vietnam and Zambia

Through Premier Skills English, teachers and learners of English are given free, compelling learning materials, drawing on football-based content from the most exciting football league in the world.

For more on Premier Skills visit click on this link

To find out more about the football-focused English content and to view the materials online, click here

About the British Council

The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We create international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and build trust between them worldwide.

We work in more than 100 countries and our 8,000 staff – including 2,000 teachers – work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year by teaching English, sharing the arts and delivering education and society programmes.

We are a UK charity governed by Royal Charter. A core publicly-funded grant provides 20 per cent of our turnover which last year was £864 million. The rest of our revenues are earned from services which customers around the world pay for, such as English classes and taking UK examinations, and also through education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. All our work is in pursuit of our charitable purpose and supports prosperity and security for the UK and globally. 
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