AFC Fylde Community Foundation (AFCFCF) are delighted to announce our three newest members of staff across a range of departments.
We are introducing two new sports coaches into our team who join the Foundation with vast experience - Kieran Houghton and Aimee Watson.
Our Community Engagement department has received a huge boost as we welcome our new Co-ordinator, Ryan De La Harpe.
His role is primarily working within the Fylde community, running and developing sessions such as our Football Welcomes project, a new numeracy programme beginning soon, Football Rehabilitation and much more. He will also be contributing to our Champions project that we run alongside the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network.
Ryan comes into the Foundation with a boatload of experience behind him in different environments, fields and countries. The Foundation's new Community Engagement Co-ordinator has also featured in a Rugby World Cup for his home nation, Namibia.
We sat down and he spoke about his story before his new chapter at the Foundation: "I've been in Namibia for the last two years as the National Academy Manager and the u20s Head Coach. Before that I was at the Isle of Man for four years as the Head Coach for Vagabonds Rugby Club.
"So my background is mostly rugby, I have played loads of different sports growing up, including football! For me, being able to be in an environment like this helps me to continue learning and head out into the local community and make a difference."
Ryan believes his background stands him in good stead for this role: "With my rugby background I have been fortunate enough to work in communities in the past, going into different schools and help people who are looking for their career pathway and help them discover themselves so hopefully with my skills and experience I will be able to make a positive contribution.
"I have completed an advanced level three in rugby, I'm comfortable coaching different multi-sports and multi-skills, I used to do that in Leyland at the council who I used to work for."
Ryan's rugby background goes well beyond coaching, in his playing days he was called up to Namibia's 2011 Rugby World Cup squad: "I played in the 2011 Rugby World Cup for Namibia, as one of the smaller nations it was very challenging but it was still an unbelievable experience. It was in New Zealand and obviously most of the time they're the best at rugby - experiencing their culture and mindset was amazing."
Aimee, the newest of the three will be working with our school services departments, attending different schools around Fylde delivering a variety of sessions.
Aimee has previous experience of working at a Community Trust but is coming to AFCFCF to perform a slightly different role: "I worked at Fleetwood Town Community Trust Sports College as a BTEC Tutor working with 16-18 year olds, primarily the students on their level twos and level threes to prepare them for university."
Aimee reflected on a previous interaction with the Foundation which played a factor in her decision to join: "I was looking forward to starting a new journey with staff, that I've previously met by doing the Fans of the Future programme with my football team, that seem really friendly and welcoming.
"Since I started I've realised that they are even more welcoming and friendly than I expected and they provide a positive environment to help the community."
Despite taking an interest in several sports, Aimee's main passion is martial arts: "Something I'm really proud of is that I'm a second dan black belt in Taekwondo, so that's my main sport. I've played football and coached loads of different sports but I found a love for martial arts, stuck by it and now I'm training for my third dan.
Kieran will be working in the same department as Aimee, but he will also be undertaking some of the sessions at our Development Centre.
Like Aimee, he also comes from a Community Trust background: "I've previously been at Preston North End Community and Education Trust - I was coaching there as a Community Sports Coach so therefore I was working across Community Engagement and Education departments. I also went through college and university at Preston which led to a full-time job."
"I've been coaching since I was 16 so I'm extremely proud that I was able to discover my career path at such a young age and I'm able to kick on with that, with a lot of experience behind me whilst still at a young age."
It's an exciting time at the Foundation to bring new faces into the team and shake things up a bit and there is zero doubt that the quality of AFCFCF's delivery will continue to be at the highest level.
You may have already seen our three new starters out and around Fylde over the last few weeks, we look forward to them having a positive impact upon the local community and if you see them, feel free to say hi.
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