Of the thousands of Junior Football Clubs playing on Saturdays and Sundays in the UK there are 3218 FA Charter Standard Clubs, Penkridge Junior FC are one of only 349 FA Charter Standard Community Clubs.
‘Community Clubs, the pinnacle of the club development pathway, will be those that have a high quality, multi-team (minimum of 10 teams) set up with excellent social, training and playing opportunities for all. As such, the number of Community Clubs is one of the truest measures of success for The FA Football Development strategy’
to achieve this accolade clubs have to fulfill the following criteria
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Have a written constitution and Club Rules
- Child Welfare Officer
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Ensure all volunteers FA CRB checked
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All managers to have minimum of FA Level 1 Coaching Course
- FA Age Appropriate Qualified Coach
- FA Level 2 Qualified Coach
- FA Youth Module 1 & 2 Qualified Coach
- FA Coach Mentor
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Commitment to attend in-service training
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Acceptance and promotion of Codes of Conduct
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Commitment to provide Mini-Soccer opportunities for Under 10s
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Commitment to promote schools liaison and equal opportunities for all
- At least 10 teams within the club
- Advanced development plan 1 -5 years
Community Standard status was achieved in 2005 and we achieved the majority of the objectives set out in our first development plan, not being complacent our second development plan was written in 2009 and published in 2010, this went a long way towards us this year passing our health check and our Community Status confirmed for a further year.
Having consulted members, the main objectives of our new plan were – Recruitment and Retainment, Perception and Awareness. Only one year in and we are along way to acheiving our goals,some of the highlights
Soccer School formed with 20+ children in regular attendance
Development Pathway Player and Coach
Superior level of coaching through recruitment and use of higher qualified coaches
Young coach development strategy
Regular communication with club members and the surrounding community
Provide end goal and/or exit strategy for older team players/coaches by forming closer links with Penkridge Town
None of this is new and development has always occurred and therefore a credit to everyone involved with the club over the years, we also have to remember that over the last 25years all this has been achieved by volunteers all working in their spare time with an average coach dedicating at least 40hours per month to the club. Which makes us even more proud of the achievements when we are recognised by our governing body in 2006 and 2008 our Club Secretary and a team secretary were both recognised by the Mid Staffs league and Staffordshire F.A. In 2010 Ben Lester was recongnised as Young Volunteer of the Year Link and in 2011 Pete Spillard was awarded Volunteer of the Year both by the Staffordshire FA Link
We are also equally as proud of all the players who have served Penkridge Junior over the years, particular mention to Richard Walker and Adam Ledgzkins who are products of PJFC, Adam now at Derby played for Penkridge Juniors for up to 8 seasons. We are also delighted to have 2 girls currently representing Academy teams at Wolverhampton and Stoke within our first 3 years of starting up at in girls football.
If anyone wishes to get involved on the Administration side of assisting running the Football Club please make contact details on the contact page.