On Monday 11^th December Cambridgeshire FA launched its new Youth Council. Young players, referees, coaches and volunteers attended their first meeting to start to plan for the future – their future.

The new Youth Council has been formed for people aged 16 to 25 to give them a voice in shaping the future of the game and a platform to aid increased participation amongst young participants in grassroots football.

The Youth Council will work with the County FA with the aim of achieving four key goals:

• To grow and retain the number of young people playing, volunteering and refereeing in football
• To raise awareness of opportunities for young people to get involved in football via the Football Futures programme
• To act as a focus group for the County FA to understand the needs and aspirations of young people involved in the game
• To support Cambridgeshire FA with the delivery of the National Game Strategy & County Delivery Plan

Given a brief insight in to our development work and current strategy, discussions started on ideas for projects that the Youth Council could deliver.

There was clear understanding and focus from all in attendance and it didn’t take long for the debate to really get going. The topics of coaching, refereeing, facilities, volunteering are all something the Youth Council are heavily involved in on a day to day basis and therefore they have a real desire to map out improvements.  

We’re really looking forward to working with our Youth Council team and are looking forward to supporting them with their exciting plans.

It’s not too late to get involved – if you think you could offer a voice and would like to be heard, please email Chris.Abbott@CambrideshireFA.Com for an application form.