Hereward College Enjoy Day at St.Georges Park

Hereward College Enjoy Day at St.Georges Park
Students from Hereward College in Coventry enjoyed an inspirational day at St George’s Park last week as they became the 100th College to sign up to Team 19 – the national college football programme now taking place in over a third of colleges in England.

To celebrate this impressive milestone, Hereward travelled to the new home of English Football and kicked off the day with a tour of the brand new facilities. This included the immaculate Wembley replica pitch, the full-sized indoor 3G pitch, the boot room where they learned that Steven Gerrard still cleans his own boots.

After refuelling in one of the four purpose built pitch side pavilions, students made their way to the David Beckham pitch where they were given the opportunity to quiz our esteemed panel: Karl Lines (CEO ECFA), Brian Goodwin (National Football Development Project Manager), and Alison and Ryan (Team 19 National Student Management Team members) about life working in football.

After this came the most anticipated part of the day – playing football at St George’s Park! Supported by our student volunteers, Ryan and Alison, Karl Lines lead the session where students showed off their skills.

During a much needed break from playing, Hereward were presented with a plaque to mark the celebration as well as a wall banner to display at their college.

College Prinipal, Sheila Fleming, was there to accept the award and commented : “All the students, and staff, really enjoyed the day and were very enthusiastic about playing football and enjoying the facilities. At times I thought I would struggle to get everyone off the pitch to go home!

‘I would also say the Team 19 staff were also very committed and enthusiastic about the visit and were really keen to celebrate Hereward being the 100th college to join such a great project.”

Head of Sport, Mark Harding added: “The day was an excellent opportunity for the students of Hereward College to experience the brand new FA facility.
‘Team 19 has allowed Football at Hereward to expand and develop, and following this amazing trip we hope the numbers taking part in Football will increase further at the college.

‘During the day, our students were also able to quiz staff members at St George’s Park and hopefully consider routes into Sport for themselves after College life.”

On the back of the trip, the college are hoping to set up a Student Management Team to run the league with support from staff.