The Kent County Football Association held the first ever Champions Schools Cup football tournament on 14th May at Kicks Soccer Centre in Strood.
The tournament was the first disability football tournament of its kind and catered for students in Key Stage 3 and 4 who had a range of physical and mental disabilities. The event welcomed 18 five-a-side teams from nine secondary schools across the county, 3 of which were girls teams. The tournament was divided into three different ability banded competitions to ensure the event was inclusive for all competitors.
The Premiership and League/Girls competitions operated on a league basis with the top two teams collecting the winners and runners up prizes. The Championship competition saw 9 teams battle it out in two groups. The highest placed team in each group then played an enthralling final to determine who was crowned champions.
The winners were as follows:
Premiership Winners – Greenacre School
Premiership Runners Up – St Nicholas School
Championship Winners – Helen Allison School
Championship Runners Up – Bradfield School (B team)
Boys League Winners – Five Acre Wood School (A team)
Boys League Runners Up – Bower Grove School
Girls League Winners – Bower Grove School
Girls League Runners Up – St Nicholas School
11 young leaders from Aylesford Sports College also volunteered to assist with the running of the event as part of the Step into Sport leadership programme. Every school was assigned a young leader to help with the running of the teams. The young leaders also assumed responsibility for collecting the scores and presenting their teams with their prizes and goodie bags.
Disability football development officer Stephanie Gadd said “The day was a great success with over 130 players taking part. It was fantastic to see everyone enjoying themselves. The hope is that after today students will transfer into local clubs which in turn will boost the growth of the Kent Junior Disability League”.
I big thank you to Alex McHale and his team for providing all the referees for the event.
In 2010 the Champions Schools Cup event will be replaced by the Kent Youth Games 2010 which are organised in partnership with the Kent Sports Leisure and Olympic Service. The event will be held at Canterbury University on Thursday 1st July.
For more information about disability football initiatives email stephanie.gadd@kentfa.com or call the county office on 01622 792140.
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