Adam Goes National
Every year the FA hold a National Leadership & Volunteering Camp which is made up of the top 100 young football leaders across the country who have been selected by their local County FA.
Durham County FA's Leadership Programme has developed progressively over the past season and had 180 young leaders enrolled on the FA step into sport programme during the 2009/10 season. This scheme is aimed at young people aged 14-19 who are interested in getting involved in volunteering within grassroots Football. At the beginning of the 2009/10 season Tina Reed (Coach Development Officer - Education) from Durham FA attended Gateshead Redheugh FC to deliver a presentation on the FA's Step into Sport Programmeto the Under 16's squad and as a result one player in particular has been offered a great opportunity following his hard work in helping to develop Football within the club.
Adam Herczeg who is part of the under 16's squad enrolled in the Step into Sport Programme and over the last 12 months has been helping to coach both the under 9 & under 13 teams. He also referees on a regular basis. Adam was invited to attend Durham FA's County Leadership Camp in March 2010 and following this he applied for a place at the FA's National Camp.
Adam has been chosen along with 4 other leaders to represent Durham County FA at this years National FA Camp and will spend a week in July at Wolverhampton University with the other top young leaders from around the country. During this week long residential trip the leaders will take part in sessions including Coaching, Refereeing, Futsal, Media Training, Goalkeeping, Disability Football, Football Science, Career Workshops and many more delivered by top coaches and tutors from the FA. Once they return they will be able to bring back all they have learnt and put it into their football sessions.
To be selected for National Camp is a great acheivement and in a county FA like Durham where the programme is so large there was lots of competition. Adam is the only leader from Gateshead to be chosen and will join leaders from SouthTyneside, Sunderland, Hartlepool and Darlington.
Tina Reed coordinates Durham County Fa's Leadership Programmeand will be accompanying the leaders to the camp as a member of staff "The National FA Camp is the biggest event of the year and is what the majority of leaders on the programme aim for. It's a very prestigioius event and we had a large number of applications this year with the standard being very high. Adam has been chosen after he impressed at the County Camp and also because of the hard work he has put in at the club and this is an excellent acheivement for him. It's a great week and he will learn a great deal that he can bring back into Gateshead Redheugh FC. Hopefully his success may encourage a few other members to get involved in the programme and increase the clubs volunteer base even further".
We asked Adam how he felt about being chosen to represent Durham Fa at the National Camp this year "I feel very privileged to have been selected to represent Durham FA at what is a Nationwide Event and to be chosen from so many enteries put forward is a great acheivement for me. Ihope to learn many new skills and coaching drills to use when i am back and i also hope to learn more about the different careers available so i can decide if i want to have a career in sport. I am looking forward to gaining new knowledge and experience in areas of Football i maybe haven't even considered yet and then bring this knowledge back into the club. I can't wait to get down there".
On his return Adam will work closely with Durham FA staff to continue the development of the Leadership and Volunteering Programme and will act as an ambassador to promote the benefits and opportunites of the scheme to the next generation of young leaders.
