SUMMARY: BLOOMSBURY FOOTBALL
In this chapter of the Refugee Sports Profile: we highlight Bloomsbury Football Foundation uses the power of sport to improve the lives of young people living in London, UK.
Bloomsbury uses football as a vehicle to improve and maintain physical and mental well-being, foster community cohesion and build life skills. Their Refugee & Asylum Seeker Programme seeks to provide a safe space to improve confidence and skills and to provide pathways into other programmes where the young people can play with others living in London. The organisation works on a model of financial assistance, with players in the Refugee & Asylum Seeker Programmes receiving 100% bursaries. BFF believes all young people should feel welcome on the pitch, regardless of their ability to pay or play.
CHALLENGES
Communication and Parental Engagement: Difficulty in communicating with parents due to language differences affects obtaining parental consent for participation.Additionally, challenges in effectively engaging parents can lead to missed opportunities for young people. Emotional and Psychological Impact on Young Participants: Frequent mobility and unstable living conditions cause emotional strain and complicate consistent participation. This instability, linked to asylum decisions, also affects access to basic needs like food. Emotional Challenges for Coaches: Coaches face emotional strain from exposure to the young people’s trauma, which impacts their well-being. They also struggle with maintaining professional boundaries while managing their role in addressing these challenges. Safeguarding and Support Systems: Safeguarding is challenging due to the significant struggles our young people face. However it remains crucial and a non-negotiable for Bloomsbury.
LESSONS LEARNED: Bloomsbury Football
To manage mental and emotional burdens, coaches are upskilled, and higher coach-to-participant ratios are maintained. Collaboration with other organizations and schools helps manage the large number of participants and ensures consistent support across different points in the week. BFF also creates safe and supportive environments where refugees can engage in activities like football without feeling pressured to discuss their traumatic experiences. This approach acknowledges their need for normalcy and recreation while still offering a structured way to support their emotional well-being through life skills training and collaboration with social services. To create safe spaces for girls-only sessions, we ensure a private and secure environment, employ female coaches, and prioritize cultural sensitivity. We work closely with parents to align with their expectations and build trust. Patience and inclusivity are key, recognizing that creating a safe, supportive atmosphere takes time.
IMPACT: All the way across the Bloomsbury Football Foundation
Improved Confidence and Skills: The program has a significant impact on improving participants’ confidence, communication skills, and both mental and physical health. It also helps in developing sports skills and life skills. This progress is observed through noticeable increases in confidence and football skills since the program’s start. Enhanced Community Cohesion: Participants gain the confidence to engage in other community sessions. This impact is measured by tracking how many participants transition to other sessions, with a current transition rate of 53%. As they grow their Refugee and Asylum Seeker Programme, Bloomsbury aims to extend the best practices of their other Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) projects to this area. For example, using a longitudinal survey (an adaption of Sport England’s Active Lives Survey), they measure the impact of programmes on physical health, mental well-being, social cohesion and life skills.
Refugee Sports Profile: Bloomsbury Football Foundation. For more on refugee sports programming and how to create inclusive, impactful and sustainable projects please contact info@thesportseffect.org