Giving Kieran the pathway to develop
Every year Albion in the Community (AITC) provides hundreds of people with a disability with the chance to play regular football at one its many local sessions.
In fact, the charity now runs more sessions than ever – with a growing number of disability-specific and pan-disability sessions taking place locally.
However, the charity’s football sessions are just one part of the wider work being done by its disability team. AITC also delivers disability awareness training to schools, colleges, universities and businesses throughout Sussex.
The person responsible for much of that delivery is Kieran Green, who began life with AITC aged just seven as a regular at its football session in Portslade. Now 23, Kieran is a player/coach at Brighton & Hove Albion Cerebral Palsy FC and a core member of AITC’s disability coaching team, having made the step up from community coach earlier this year; before that he had completed an apprenticeship with the charity.
His coaching roles involve delivering sessions to young players with a disability, including a session for junior players with cerebral palsy – much like the session Kieran began attending 16 years ago. He also works with young people who are deaf or partially-sighted.
And away from the pitch, Kieran is having a significant impact on the way people here in Sussex view disabilities.
In 2018 alone, Kieran and his colleague Hayley Templeman have delivered 56 different disability awareness sessions – averaging more than one a week. Some of these will have been based around assemblies, others will have been disability sport taster events, or visits to local businesses. In total, Kieran has delivered the training to more than 9,000 people.
That figure includes more than 300 people who work at Brighton & Hove Albion FC and AITC, with disability awareness training given to all members of staff at both football club and charity.
For Kieran, the chance to work for the charity is one that means a lot to him.
He said: “I’ve experienced the benefits of AITC’s work myself and to now be in a position in which I can offer those same opportunities to other people is fantastic.”
Paul Brackley, AITC’s disability manager, was full of praise for Kieran. He said: “Kieran is key member of the team at AITC and it has been fantastic to see him develop both and off the pitch in recent years.
“The disability awareness work Kieran and Hayley do is an incredibly important part of our work at AITC and the personal insight and experience Kieran is able to provide is invaluable.”
For more information on AITC’s disability awareness training, email: disability@bhafcfoundation.org.uk.
This story was written when our name was Albion in the Community. As of August 1 2023, we are the Brighton & Hove Albion Foundation.