Dergview Youth Academy Rising Stars

Who are we?

We are a voluntary youth academy in Castlederg, catering to youth football. We provide regular football and physical activity opportunities for those living within the Castlederg area through coaching sessions as well as competitive matches. The aims and objectives of our Club are:

- Offer coaching and competitive opportunities in football 

-Promote the club and sport within the local community 

-Ensure a duty of care to all members of the Club

-Provide our programmes and services in a way that is inclusive and fair for all. 

The Club provides opportunities that improve opportunities in sport for better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. We work hard to develop local community links. 

For example, much of our efforts are focused on working with local community groups and organisations to ensure everyone has access to sport and wellbeing activities. A major aim of the Club is to encourage more participation from groups who otherwise would not traditionally have access to football.

Why are we crowdfunding?

 We are a youth football Club based here in rural Castlederg County Tyrone, and from January we want to fundraise to deliver a new programme called "Dergview Rising Stars", for 12 weeks to end of March, 6+ hours per wee. 

Our programme is about nurturing 50+ new young people and future leaders in football within our Club. Our project is a new programme to create new opportunities for young people locally who have never played football before, and encourage more boys and girls to play football, breaking barriers to participation in our rural border community.

Our project is very much a new innovative initiative, that will also focus on getting more girls into coaching and leadership roles in our Club, such as on the Committee.

We want to bring in experienced coaches to deliver a new "train the trainer" programme, which will upskill 4 of our current volunteer coaches (3 are females). 

We will deliver a 6 week introduction to football for 15+ young people with learning disabilities. 

Crowdfunding will really help us develop our new project. It will also allow us to promote our Club to more young people who haven't played football before, including getting more females into our Club. 

We will work with local schools, such as Castlederg High School near our Club, and community groups to encourage more boys and girls to take up football.

Sport NI will match every pound donated up to a maximum of £5,000, so please donate what you can.

Thank you for supporting this Crowdfunder!

How we’ll spend the money raised

Donations will cover the costs of equipment, coaches, refreshments, coach education etc. More specifically, our budget is as follows:

Coaching Costs over 12 weeks, 6 hours per week @ £30 per hour x 3 coaches= £6,480. This will include specialist coaches working with persons with learning disabilities over 6 weeks. And train the trainer elements over 6 weeks.

Equipment= £2,400 @ Multi Sport Coaching Packs x 12 @ £200 each (includes 2 specific coaching packs for equipment relevent to persons with disability coaching)..

Marketing= £500 (social media adds and print).

Refreshement budget= £620 (50+ participants across each project element)

Community impact

"Dergview Rising Stars" programme aligns well with the objectives and criteria of the Sport NI "Creating Opportunities" programme in several key ways:

Level the Field

• The "Dergview Rising Stars" programme is designed to break barriers to participation in a rural and traditionally underserved community such as Castlederg. By introducing football to young people who have never played before, and focusing on inclusivity, the project directly supports Sport NI's aim to enable people traditionally excluded from sport to participate.

Engaging Underrepresented Groups:

• The programme targets several of Sport NI's priority groups, including:
  • Girls: Encouraging more female participation in football and leadership roles.
  • People with disabilities: Delivering a six-week introduction to football for young people with learning disabilities.
  • Rural communities: Addressing participation gaps in Castlederg, a rural border community.

New and Additional Activities:

• This is a new initiative for the Club, focusing on previously untapped groups within the community and introducing innovative elements such as "train the trainer" for upskilling volunteer coaches.

Community Connection and Growth:

• Collaboration with local schools (e.g., Castlederg High School) and community groups to engage new audiences aligns with Sport NI’s goal of connecting communities through sport.

Building Resilience and Innovation:

• The programme emphasizes the development of leadership roles within the Club and integrates crowdfunding efforts to secure sustainability and expand reach. Upskilling volunteer coaches further demonstrates a commitment to building long-term capacity.

How the Project Meets Funding Criteria:

• Focus on Target Groups:
  • The project engages youth, girls, youths with disabilities, and rural community members, directly meeting the eligibility criteria.
• New and Innovative Initiative:
  • As a new programme for the Club, "Dergview Rising Stars" focuses on additional participation opportunities rather than sustaining ongoing activities.

Outcomes:

The programme will:

• Increase participation in football among youth who have never played.
• Create leadership pathways for girls and women in football.
• Build a more inclusive Club environment by targeting underrepresented groups.
• Enhance community cohesion through collaboration with schools and community organizations.
• Upskill the coaching team, improving long-term capacity and quality of delivery.

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!