NEC and Unique Sports start trainer-assistant course for ‘Special Football’
In 2014, NEC and the municipality of Nijmegen started the ‘Special Football’ competition; football for people with disabilities in the Nijmegen region. Since then, it has grown into cooperation between 11 amateur football clubs from the region who play in competition with 17 other teams. In Special Football, winning is not important and everything is focused on creating individual success moments and development.
In October 2018, the Special Football Platform (the football clubs) asked NEC and Unique Sports to discuss the need to offer people with a disability an extra challenge. This has resulted in a course assistant trainer for special footballers. Henri Bakhuis, coordinator and trainer at Beuningse Boys Voetbal +, was one of the initiators: “The initiative to offer older players more challenge by this course was immediately enthusiastically embraced by NEC and Unique Sports. Thanks to a group of enthusiastic volunteers, it is now time for us to start. I am confident in a successful outcome “.
The programme kicked off at NEC’s Goffert Stadium on Wednesday, January 16, 2019, with 13 students from SC Bemmel, SC Woezik, Beuningse Boys and SV Hatert along with their tandem coaches. During the course of the programme, the students will be trained as assistant coaches and between the meetings, the students will receive homework assignments for completing together with their tandem coach at their own club.
“We are very proud of the growth and development that the Special Football platform is experiencing. Together with Unique Sports, we offer the target group a route that offers them an opportunity to develop further in society. By adding our expertise to the course, we bring this group into action “, says Luc te Riele, NEC Maatschappelijk manager.
Wesley Deenen, Coordinator for Unique Sports in Nijmegen is also very pleased with the development: “It is great to see that we can offer this extra challenge in cooperation with the partners. Such a process therefore fits perfectly within our course and ambitions to get the adjusted athlete to move in a sustainable way “.
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