Saturday 3^rd December 2022 is International Day of People with Disabilities. At Derbyshire FA, we are recognising and celebrating Derbyshire’s Heroes!

Chesterfield FC Community Trust, based in North East Derbyshire, run three different sessions for SEN and disabled persons to enjoy football, teamwork, and socialising. These are:

PAN football:

This is split in two sessions for under 12’s and under 16’s. These sessions allow participants with special education needs and disabilities with the opportunity to develop their football skills, as part of a team, which otherwise might be more difficult for them when participating in mainstream football teams. As a result, the club have created their own Chesterfield FC PAN disability football team, at both under 12 and under 16 level, competing in the South Yorkshire Ability Counts premier division. Which allows our participants to have the opportunity to represent Chesterfield FC against other Disability football teams.

PAN crafts:

This session also runs on a Wednesday evening, this is a craft session for those participants who want the social inclusion they are unable to access in mainstream after school activities but aren’t necessarily interested in football. These are structured sessions which other three or four different activities each week.

PAN multi – sports and Inclusivity:

This is the most popular session and is run on a Friday evening. This session is split into 3 separate practices. Multi – sports, team building and football. Each participant will take part in each activity to allow them to develop in a wide range of sport – specific skills. The club also provide a sensory breakout room for participants who may be struggling within the sessions, or who may need sensory breaks.

At Derbyshire FA, we believe in ‘Changing Lives Through Football’ and Chesterfield do exactly that. On International Day of People with Disabilities and every other day, they are certainly Derbyshire’s Heroes!

For more information on how we as a County FA support Disability pathways in football, visit https://www.derbyshirefa.com/players/disability.