The programme runs four days a week & for two hours each day.
Monday & Friday every week are fitness & football sessions provided by FAI Development Officier for Limerick City Jason O'Connor & Stephen Conway who is a past participant on the course & FAI Volunteer.
Tuesday every week is a cooking lesson where the participants learn to cook healthy, cheap & nutritious meals from scratch.
Thursday every week is a health workshop with a different topic every week, e.g. Drug & Alcohol awareness, Sexual Health, Communication skills and more.
The Fitness Through Football programme has a link with English Premier League team Sunderland FC who on week 5 of the programme send over two coaches who will coach the participants for a full week, two sessions a day.
On completions of the programme the participants enjoy a weekend in Sunderland where they compete in a game against a local team, are taken on a match day stadium tour of the Stadium of Light & also attend a Premier League game.
The participants are fitness tested by myself on week 1 & week 8 of the programme & the results in the past have been phenomenal so far.
Outputs of the programme include participants returning to college, start volunteering with the FAI, complete Kickstart 1 coaching badge & work on FAI Summer Camps while participants who were recreational drug users become drug free.
For further information on the course contact Limerick City Football Development Officer Jason O'Connor - jason.oconnor@fai.ie