Ant Bayou, Youth and Inclusion Manager at our specialist partners Rotherham United Community Sports Trust, completed the Levelling the Playing Field mentoring qualification (delivered by Aspire Active Education Group) earlier this year. Here, he gives his perspective on how it has augmented his skillset and improved the breadth and quality of provision he’s able to offer young people on their programmes – including their weekly LtPF community football sessions.
The Levelling the Playing Field mentoring qualification has definitely added another string to my bow that I don't feel I possessed before. The course highlighted that I already possess mentoring skills and experience, but it added structure and know-how around that.
I won’t lie, when we first started the qualification with Stuart Bates from Aspire, the amount of work we would be required to do was quite alarming. That wasn’t Stuart’s or Levelling the Playing Field’s fault, it just showed that it was going to be more in-depth than CPD that many of us do regularly which only requires a few hours or a day.
Fortunately, here at RUCST we were able to allocate work time to it. I know other organisations who don’t have that spare capacity might have struggled having to do it at home in their own time.
The practical side of the qualification was the most beneficial. For staff working in this environment, delivering something to a group of young people you’re already familiar with, then having it evaluated by Aspire and LtPF, was a hugely positive process.
Previous mentoring practice here at RUCST has been pretty informal. With any young person referred into us, we will tailor our support to meet their needs. We might play pool or kick a football around with them to get a conversation going and build trust. Once that relationship has been built, we then signpost them to some form of regular engagement.
We pride ourselves on being a cohesive community. We can engage a young person in fulfilling activity for weeks or even years, but they don’t stay 14 or 15 forever. If we don’t support them with meeting new people, staff members, community groups and colleges, we aren’t doing our jobs properly. As well as all our different programmes, we partner with other local support groups to develop the support package each young person needs.
For several years, I have worked with challenging young people (due to their home environment, past traumas or community circumstances) as well as those with SEND and additional needs. The more knowledge you can build up around supporting them and breaking down barriers through engagement techniques, words, research and activities, the better.
An increasing number of organisations in Rotherham now refer young people to us (due to previous sources of support disappearing due to Covid-19, lack of funding etc). Our remit is now far wider than young people wanting to get involved in sport – it's young people with mental health issues, not attending school and needing one-to-one mentoring support. It’s one thing being a sports coach, but being equipped to deal with young people’s extra needs makes a session 10 times better for everyone involved. The mentoring qualification will really help address these wider issues.
The calibre of young people we work with – and I imagine this applies right across the LtPF network – is not typically those lucky enough to be wearing full kit and shinpads and driven to a session by their parents. We get young people turning up by themselves, with no parent or guardian, and they might be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
If you are just a well-rounded football coach who knows all about drills and skill development, you may well be able to get the best out of that young person, but if that’s your only criteria, and it’s obvious a young person is crying out for help, that’s where this qualification will really benefit anyone that’s done it.
It’s definitely benefited me – and I’ve had prior experience of those situations. I did know how to deal with it, but even so, that qualification has still expanded my experience. It has made that opportunity to engage with someone who may need it most, 10 times more beneficial for both sides.
Another element that the qualification has improved is our ‘after-care’. We have always put participants’ safety at the heart of everything, but having the perspective of a qualified mentor adds an extra layer of understanding to what kind of support a young person may need after a sport session has finished. Are we reporting any concerns in the right way, do we need to inform school or other external organisations? Knowing that child better through mentoring helps us make the right decisions.
I’ve recently stepped up to a position as a line manager, so gaining a deeper understanding of mentoring doesn’t just benefit our participants in sessions, it benefits my staff too, because those skills can be transferred from person to person."