The Young Leaders Program in the UK

The Young Leaders Program in the UK aims to educate young people about violence and extremism, enhance their personal and leadership skills, and promote inclusivity. The program focuses on critical thinking, crisis management, and leadership skills to challenge injustices in society. This paper primarily focuses on the Football Foundation's program in socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods, aiming to enhance football skills and promote a healthy lifestyle.

The Young Leaders Program in the UK1
THE YOUNG LEADERS PROGRAM IN THE UK
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The Young Leaders Program in the UK2
The Young Leaders Program in the UK
As a leadership program, the Young Leaders Program primary purpose is to educate the
young generation about the threats of violence and extremism. Through the program, young
people enhance their personal and leadership skills through their participation in residential
leadership conferences, community events, and workshops (Active Change Foundation 2017).
The program focuses on a wide range of skills including critical thinking skills, crisis
management, and leadership skills that help them challenge the injustices that characterize the
contemporary society (Active Change Foundation 2017). The program does not take into
consideration the ethnicity, background, or religious affiliation of the participants; rather it
promotes inclusivity. These young people face various setbacks in their community, and through
the program, they can bring positive change to society. Therefore, the paper primarily focuses on
the Football Foundation introducing the Football Association program in socioeconomically
disadvantaged neighborhoods. The program aims to enhance the skills of those interested in
football in addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle.
Overview of the Target Population
As the largest sports charity organization in the UK, Football Foundation intends to
introduce a Football Association program is socioeconomically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The initiative targets young boys and girls aged between 13years and 19 years, to be precise
those interested in football activities. Through this program, the target group will enhance their
skills of becoming great players as well as leading an active lifestyle. Merkel(2013) notes that
developing good sporting habits results in better outcomes including enhanced socialization
skills; increased fitness, healthy lifestyles, and fun. The target group is more likely to attend my
initiative on weekends and holidays. This is the time when the target population does not have

The Young Leaders Program in the UK3
much school work to do and can channel their free time in a football skills development
initiative. The initiative will target individuals that reside in socioeconomically disadvantaged
neighborhoods with a population of approximately 50,000 residents.
The target population neighborhood is concentrated with fast food restaurants with few
stores that sell fresh fruits and vegetables. Additionally, the residents do not engage in recreation
activities due to limited space. For this reason, the football skills development initiative will be
crucial in enhancing the healthy lifestyle and addressing physical inactivity among the
socioeconomically disadvantaged youths. Sports equipment shop is not nearby, but they are
accessible five kilometers from the neighborhood. Therefore, the target group will come to the
program because it is affordable and provides them with an opportunity to remain physically
active. Besides, the target group is used to eating convenient foods which have increased obesity
prevalence among them. With the initiative in place, they will be willing to keep themselves fit
through the training sessions that characterize the initiative.
Rationale
The adolescent stage provides individuals with the opportunity to lead a healthy lifestyle.
It also forms the basis through which future health patterns are developed. Leisure is crucial for
adolescents because it provides them with the chance to spend time with their friends
(Fredriksson, Geidne, & Eriksson 2015). For this reason, the football skills development
initiative will provide the target population with a chance to achieve their full potential in
addition to attaining better health outcomes. Therefore, the primary objective of the initiative is
to enhance the development of adolescent football skills in addition to promoting a healthy
lifestyle.

The Young Leaders Program in the UK4
The initiative aim is to provide youths from economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods
with an opportunity to lead a healthy and active lifestyle through participating in the sports of
their interest. Flyers and pamphlets will be distributed around the community so that interested
youths can join the initiative. Also, a community awareness program will be designed to enhance
active participation of the target group into the program. The initiative will not only focus on
football skills development but also fostering supportive relationships, empowering youths,
integrating family, community, and school into the program strategies.
Operational considerations
The program will be located in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the
UK. The sporting activity will be held at 4p.m to 6.00p.m during schooldays and during holidays
from 9.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. The program will partner with the government, non-governmental
organizations, and community-based organizations to realize its objectives. The collaboration
with these organizations is crucial in enhancing youth empowerment in the socio-economically
disadvantaged neighbourhoods in addition to getting the needed funds to sponsor some youths
including buying their sporting equipment.
However, a significant portion of the funding will come from Professional Footballer’s
Association, the Premier League, the government, the Football Association and the remaining
from non-governmental organizations that focus on empowering youths and promoting healthy
living and the business communities. The initiative staffs will be hired from the general
population. Vacancies will be posted online and in the local newspapers so that competent
individuals can apply for various openings in the organization. Only top-notch candidates such as
coaches and referees will be selected for different job openings in the program such as training

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the target group the best football techniques, goalkeeping skills, defending skills, and shooting
skills among others.
Leadership Style
The type of leadership style that fits my initiative is transformational leadership style.
The use of this style of leadership will inspire the target group via effective communication
(Megheirkouni 2018). Transformational leadership style also creates an environment that
stimulates creativity and innovation (Fadhilah et al. 2018). The most defining attributes of a
transformational leader include leading by inspiring others, striving towards a shared vision
which goes beyond winning football, building confidence among followers, and the leader is
optimistic about the potential and abilities of his/her athletes (Gandolfi & Stone 2018). A
transformational leader ensures that athletes realize three major needs including feeling
connected to colleagues, feeling successful and competent, and exhibiting control and freedom
(Gorgulu 2019). Accordingly, a transformational leader focuses on balancing group and
individual goals in addition to emphasizing teamwork and altruistic behaviour (Hoffner 2018).
However, transactional leadership will also be utilized to punish bad behaviours and reward
extraordinary performances. The leadership style will only be applied occasionally to motivate
the target group
Conclusion
It is evident that youths from socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods do not
engage in physical and other recreation facilities due to limited space. Besides, they reside in
neighbourhoods with high concentration of fast food restaurants and few shops that sell fresh

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fruits and vegetables. For this reason, the football skills development initiative will be crucial for
the youths in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods. They will not only learn football but also
remain healthy due to their involvement in other physical activities during training sessions.
List of References
Megheirkouni, M 2018, ‘Leadership and decision-making styles in large-scale sporting events’,
Event Management, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 785–801.
Active Change Foundation 2017, Young leaders program. Available from:
https://www.activechangefoundation.org/about-the-programme [16 April 2019]
Fadhilah, A, Nor Emmy, S, Neezlin , N, Siti, AAZ & Siti, NT 2018, ‘An empirical investigation
of the relationship between transformational, transactional female leadership styles and
employee engagement’, Global Business & Management Research, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 724–733.
Fredriksson, I, Geidne, S & Eriksson, C 2015,’ Important strategies for youth centres to be
health-promoting settings’, Health Science Journal, vol.10, no.1, pp.1-10.
Gandolfi, F & Stone, S 2018, ‘Leadership, leadership styles, and servant leadership’, Journal of
Management Research, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 261–269.
Gorgulu, R 2019, ‘Transformational leadership inspired extra effort: The mediating role of
individual consideration of the coach-athlete relationship in college basketball players’,
Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 157–163,
Hoffner, LA 2018, ‘Leadership is more than a noun’, Parks & Recreation, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 50–
54.
Merkel, DL 2013,’Youth sport: Positive and negative impact on young athletes’, Open Access
Journal of Sports Medicine, vo.4, pp.151-160. doi: 10.2147/OAJSM.S33556

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