Leeds AFC offer a helping hand by linking up with Cope

BALLVOLANE club Leeds AFC continues to make massive strides both on and off the pitch but one collaboration that caught my eye was the one between themselves and Cope foundation.

I recently spoke with senior coach James Fogarty, a leading figure in Cork football, whose work at Leeds never goes unnoticed and here he tells us about the collaboration and how his work with Cope has been the most rewarding in his time of coaching.

“It’s a great collaboration we have with the Cope Foundation Team which has been going on for almost five years now,” said Fogarty. “We both have an agreement to share both our facilities and our coaches between the two teams in which Leeds have integrated the Cope Soccer team into the club.”

This means the Cope team play under the Leeds name and wear the Leeds jersey and are supported by the Leeds Community.

“This gives the lads on the team a great feeling of inclusion within the club and gives the club another team to cheer and support. We have a number of the players from the Cope team coaching within our academy and schoolboys sections also with special mentions to Sean Murphy, David Dunlea and Shane O’Neill.

The lads are turning into really excellent coaches and have completed some of their coaching badges already. Special mention to the great Sean Murphy who recently completed his D Licence and also won gold at the World Games in Germany with Special Olympics Ireland. A great achievement that the whole club were proud of.

“Cope also have a great coach in Dominique Wehrkamp who works with the players week in, week out and is always on the phone to try and make the soccer journey for these players as enjoyable as possible. 

"Myself and Dominique are currently working with the Munster FA to organise a coaching session in Turner’s Cross where we hope we can get all 20 players onto the first step of the coaching ladder. Barry Cotter, MFA and FAI have been great supporters of this initiative and we think it will be a great buzz for all the players to play in Turners Cross.

“Myself, Garreth Fitzgerald, Colin Yelveton and Jason Yelverton have coached an awful lot of teams in our time as coaches and we can honestly say that our time spent working with the Cope/Leeds team has been one of the most rewarding. The lads on the team are so grateful for the time you spend with them and they hang off your every word.

They are a great bunch and very eager to learn.

“They are also driven and want to win and always improve which is great to see.”

This coaching also removes the obstacles that some of these players may have faced when they had previously tried to play the game they love so much.

I also think the players love the sense of inclusion within the club and the community in Leeds.

“I think the link that these sessions create between the players and the wider community is something that we cannot measure but we know is important. We are opening doors and creating relationships between the people that may not have been created without this partnership and this works to the benefit of the Cope Players, the Leeds coaches and the local community.”

They have some of the Cope/Leeds coaches in the academy working with UEFA-qualified coaches every Saturday morning in our academy which caters for over 150 kids aged from 6 to 10.

“The entire Cope/Leeds team train every Wednesday night with their brilliant coach Dominique in the Cope facilities and we organise blitzes in Leeds every couple of months as they rotate the host clubs.

“We have a blitz coming up next weekend in Leeds park where teams from Mallow, Ballincollig and Waterford will be playing off against our Leeds superstars. Our Leeds team are red hot favourites to win this tournament and we are sure to have a big crowd there on the day to support.”

The club will be providing coaches, referees and the facilities for the tournament which is due to run all day.”