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Leigh Ramblers are the latest club in Essex to offer football for all with regular Soccability coaching sessions for children with disabilities.

3 Feb 2009 - Soccability Festival starts 2009 in style

At the end of a long, cold day just 5 medals remained in a box that held 150; the only remains of the first Soccability festival of 2009.The morning programme saw players aged from 8-16 receiving an hours worth of coaching from two southend based coaches Ben Duncan and Chris Reeder. The players then entered the 5-a-side courts at the playfootball.net centre for matches against each other.During the lunch break, players from the Aspire Powerchair Football Team, showed players, spectators and onlookers a demonstration of powerchair football. For many who were watching this was their first time of seeing this form of football. With powerchairs and attachments for powerchair football coming in at around £4,000 there are very few football teams who offer this form of provision in the UK. It is hoped that by working with Leigh Ramblers Soccability club the Essex FA are hoping that we may have a powerchair football centre for those people in a wheelchair living in Essex to access. The afternoon saw ten teams from Southing, Rochford, Colchester, Chelmsford, Witham and Clacton taking part in a round robin tournament. The quality of football was very high and with player shaking each others hands at the end of each game the spirit of fair play was evidenced throughout the afternoon. John Manning the Inclusion Development Officer at the Essex Said: "I can't quite believe how many people turned up today. This really fills me with great confidence of what developments can occur in disability football this year. The success of today is down to the hard work of volunteers at grass roots clubs who regularly put on sessions throughout the season. A special thank you goes to Leigh Ramblers for helping to run the day and to the playfootball.net centre for hosting the festival."

 Leigh Ramblers Soccerbility Squad, receiving donation from American Express (that'll do nicely!, said Head Coach), to cover the cost for indoor training facility during the winter months. 

The Southend based Charter Standard outfit recently completed an eight week Three Lions pilot programme for the children and Leigh Ramblers coach, Graham Owen, is delighted with the progress they've made: "We originally started up with just four boys but we've got ten in total now and it's been great fun," said Graham who recently completed a Coaching Disabled Footballers course with the Essex County FA.

Graham admits that the one hour sessions for 8-16 year olds on Saturday mornings are a lot different from his regular coaching with Leigh Ramblers' youth teams: "We didn't know what to expect at first but it's just a case of tailoring the skills and drills to the strengths of specific individuals.

"All the boys are forming friendships now and we have one lad who's in an electric wheelchair but he gets involved as well and that's very rewarding to see."

Leigh Ramblers' neighbours, Hambro Colts, have been pushing Soccability in the south of the county and Graham went along to a couple of their coaching sessions before starting up the Ramblers Three Lions club.

"Bob Pointer has done a great job at Hambro Colts and it gave us an idea on how to approach the coaching sessions at Leigh Ramblers. We also attended their recent Soccability festival which everyone enjoyed," said Graham who has coached at Leigh Ramblers for over five years.

Graham added: "Bob is keen to start up a friendly football league for all the local Soccability clubs and we'd love to be involved.

"We've had some very positive feedback from all the children's parents and, now that the pilot sessions are over, we're looking forward to integrating Soccability into Leigh Ramblers on a regular basis."