Three of our first year students have recently had a unique experience as part of their commitments to refereeing regularly within our community. Mason King, Jack Massey and Declan Lynass travelled to the Isle of Wight, York & Ayrshire respectively for tournaments over a full weekend.

The boys spoke about their experiences:

Mason – “The tournament in the Isle of Wight helped me reconnect with friends made through refereeing and I got to referee the U14s final which was a great experience!”

Jack – “Lancashire FA provided me with the opportunity and it was great to see a new part of the country. It was good for me to put my skills to the test in a high pressure environment.”

Declan – “I was nervous at first as this was my first referee tournament and some of the rules were different in Scotland. I refereed lots of games across the weekend and it was good to travel there too. It helped me build confidence and I would definitely do it again!”

Their education tutor, Kasom Shah expressed:

“It is really important that we praise the boys for their efforts refereeing. They have taken the initiative alongside their education programme to actively get out in the community to practice their football understanding and develop key life skills. I have seen the confidence that they have gained from refereeing on the weekends transfer into their coaching where each of them delivered engaging sports sessions to primary school children.”

All of these boys were also part of the unbeaten team that attended Wembley recently. Well done boys, keep up the hard work!