With Community Day coming up this Saturday, we’re spotlighting a new participant of our community programmes every day this week to highlight some of the vital work that NTFC Community Trust do across Northamptonshire.
Today we hear from NTFC Women Development team captain Madi Evans. Madi has come through the age groups with the NTFC Football and Education Partnership (FEP) and spoke to the It’s All Cobblers To Me podcast about her journey.
Madi said,
“(The FEP) gives players an extra edge to achieve their goals in football because training twice a week with games weekly, it means you get a lot of time on the ball and the coaches will also be there to support to help you improve. And I think everyone in the college can say that they've improved a lot from when they started to now. And the educational side of it, they cover many different areas like fitness training, which will help our performance.”
"But my personal favourite thing was coaching as I'd get to go out to a team and practically deliver my own session plans. And that gave me experience of what it's like to be in the coach's position, which opened opportunities for me as going on to be a coach. But the programme has been excellent. The coaches and tutors give you the support you need to succeed as long as you work hard and you're willing to put the effort in there's no reason why you can't get what way you want to be in life.”
“Through coaching placements, I've been able to be more confident and communicate better with players as I've had to adapt my communication style from coaching under 16s to then going to do under 10s and 12s, which doesn't seem like a big gap, but it makes a big difference in how you talk to them. On the pitch, I'm a lot louder than I used to be with more confidence in my ability to play instead of trying to kick the ball away. soon as I get it, I've learnt to look after it and be calm.”
A big thanks to Madi!
Link to episode: https://podfollow.com/cobblerstome/episode/52d01f14cdd7baf540f80225eb5629e5200e3f1a/view
For more information on NTFC Community Trust, visit ntfccommunity.co.uk and to get involved in fundraising for the charity this year, contact Fundraising and Events Manager Danny Brothers at danny.brothers@ntfc.co.uk
Donation link: NTFC Community Trust - 25 for 25! - JustGiving