Initially, the brand teamed up with the Lancashire FA Coach Education department and through their funding, more than 100 teachers have undertaken the FA Level 1 Coaching Certificate sponsored by Chicago Town Pizza, which like the L.F.A. are based in Leyland.
In the past it has been incredibly difficult to entice teachers and particularly females onto football coaching courses. The consequence of this is that many primary school children do not have the opportunity to access high quality football within their school. Thanks to this newly formed partnership between the LFA and Chicago Town, teachers and support staff were offered the chance to undertake the award at a discounted rate with the added incentive of receiving a wonderful gift of UMBRO kit and equipment upon completion of the award. In addition, the qualification enabled many schools to go on to achieve the FA Charter Standard Schools Award, the prestigious kitemark for quality football provision in schools. In 2007, over 50 new schools achieved Charter Standard and the Chicago Town courses contributed to making this happen.
Due to the demand, we were also able to set up part of the courses on schooldays as they were recognised as CPD opportunities for teaching staff.
5 courses have now taken place, so far 38% of candidates have been female and from across both the primary and secondary sectors. Furthermore, young leaders and parents were encouraged to sign up providing they were committed to getting involved with football in a local school. One of these is an employee of Chicago Town, Ian Eastwood.
Ian said, "I feel very fortunate that my employees gave me the time to attend the course and also paid for the course for me. I was very proud to receive my Chicago Town Kit which is fantastic. It endorses that I am a level 1 coach and looks really great. A lot of teachers on the course that I attended were very excited about the program and I was amazed by how many different people attended the course, Ladies, men, and all different abilities, it was great. Lots of children in Lancashire are going to benefit from the programme."
This year, Dr Oetker have focused their sponsorship on Refereeing. The sponsorship is drected towards the Association's Mini Whitlers programme which aims to encourage anyone from the age of 14 to take up refereeing.