FA England Talent Day
For a second successive season, we held a FA England Talent Day in partnership with Surrey FA on Saturday 20th April at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. The England Talent Day is a key component of the FA Disability Talent Pathway, to identify and signpost young players with cerebral palsy, hearing impairments and visual impairments aged 7-16 to suitable football environments.
Thirteen players from South London and as far as Sussex came for our Talent Day, which started off with presentations from FA Disability Talent Football Scout Jon Whittingham and Darren Harris on his journey to over 150 caps for the England Blind Football National Team.
The participants were raring to play football in the sun after inspiring presentations, with players with cerebral palsy, visual impairment and hearing impairments put through their paces with Foundation Coach John Harney whilst one blind football had received one-to-one expertise coaching from our Disability Officer Keon Richardson and England Blind Football Veteran - Darren Harris.
"It’s all about inspiring people to take part in sport and find something you love doing. You can get a lot out of football at every level.” said Darren. Following on from the England Talent Day, the players will be signposted to grassroots or impairment specific teams local to them or the FA Regional Emerging Talent Programme.
Palace for Life Foundation offers a wide variety of disability programmes to enable young people and adults across South London to enjoy sport and make new friends. To find out more about our programmes, contact our Disability Officer Keon Richardson via email: KeonRichardson@palaceforlife.org or on 075 2222 5373.