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Please see below for the projects we have been involved with.

Through funding from Sport England We have been able to put on a weekly Saturday morning course in Erdington for children aged 5-13 over a six month period. Sessions will involve activities based around a variety of sports, including basketball, cricket, athletics plus all round fitness activity. This will ensure sessions are varied, and remain fun and engaging across time, and give participants as much opportunity as possible to find something they really enjoy and want to continue doing beyond the project.
Research indicates that children who participate in multiple sports have improved motor skills, greater physical fitness, and reduced risk for injury compared to those who specialise in only one sport. This is potentially because multi-sport participation can provide children with a variety of motor experiences, enhancing fundamental athletic skills such as running, jumping, and throwing. These promote athleticism and help minimise injuries by limiting unnecessary repetitive stress on specific areas of the body. Improved athleticism will help our children to feel more capable and skilled at playing sports, so boosting their confidence, and helping them enjoy playing more - the key to maintaining ongoing and long-term participation. 

Since 2022 we have been working with Streetgames UK, Bring it on Brum and the HAF's funding programme to put on coaching courses in Erdington, Edgbaston and Quinton for children between the ages of 4-16 in these local areas. These courses are completeley FREE of charge for children who attend that are recieving fee school meals. We run the courses in the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays. As well as 4 hours coaching the children also do various other enrichment activities, such as coaching in deifferent disciplines, DJ workshops and bushcraft. Nutrition talks and a hot meal are provided for each child at dinner time. As well as the football coaching and multi sports courses we were particularly focusing on trying to impress upon the children the importance of good nutrition and eating habbits. We try to acheieve this by linking up with aprtners such as Digbeth dining club who come down and do some food prep and cooking lessons with the children, this is always extremeley popular with the children who attened and  we also try and get the parents invovled too.

We incorporate our family food days and food festivals into our HAF's courses together with Streetgames UK and Bring It On Brum. We speak to the children about the importance of having a healthy balanced diet, meal planning, food preparation and hygiene and budgeting. As well as this the children actually get the chance to prepare a meal of their own which they can the eat. We also try and get the parents involved with some of these days and make it a family event!

We are thrilled to announce that through the Heart of England community foundation funding that we are able to continue to assist in funding with this brilliant initiative.
The ‘Road to Recovery’ Cycling Project, which is based in North Solihull.
This project will see us utilising sport and physical activity to bring about positive change and
development for those vulnerable in our community. We are anticipating 20 people with
addiction to attend and for the project to make a profound positive impact towards their
recoveries.
This project provides cycling alongside other activity sessions, working in partnership with
Changes UK- an addiction charity that aids those recovering from addiction issues in deprived
areas of North Solihull area. Changes UK are a highly regarded local organisation that have a
wealth of experience and success in supporting people through recovery and to move on in a
positive manner after addiction.
We have planned a delivery time of 5 months initially, with weekly group cycling sessions which
start from Solihull Sports Centre.
From there, 2 of our leaders will lead groups of 12 men and women aged 18-50 for an hour per
session. The leaders will tailor the sessions to gradually build up participant’s confidence, fitness
levels and love of cycling. Alongside the cycling session, there will be another hour of fitness
activities, mentoring and group discussions. We will then support 4 participants in undertaking
Rider Leader Training, seeing them take on leadership roles and helping us make this project
sustainable beyond the initial 5 months.

Paul Devlin Fitness and Well-being with  Heart of England Priorities Funding, was very happy to help Boxing futures launch a new project supporting young people in Dudley to get
active and improve the state of their mental health, through engagement in boxing
and specific mental health support. The project will offer non-contact Boxing classes
alongside mental health workshops led by a local partner organisation 'Support
Futures'. We aim to engage 20 young people in the project (through promoting the
project along the guidelines detailed in the question below), which will be delivered
from The Duncan Edward Leisure Centre in Dudley. There will be 2 hours of activities
weekly. Firstly this will be one hour of beginners non-contact boxing coaching
delivered by two of our highly qualified, experienced, sessional coaches, providing a
highly engaging crash course in boxing technique, essential skills, and fitness.
Second, will be a one hour mental health and motivation workshop led by an expert
from the local charity Support Futures (which itself uses boxing as a tool to support
improved mental health among hard to reach young people). These workshops will
focus on supporting mental health within sessions, and teaching techniques which
can support individuals cultivate maintain good mental health on an ongoing basis
(e.g. practices like meditation and maintaining social, sporting activity), as well as
practices which help them cope better when undergoing stressful and pressurised
situations, or mental health crises (known as mental health first aid). The project will
run for 12 weeks, and we will signpost participants to sources of further support
during and at project culmination.

On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of June it was a privilege to take part in Road to recovery cycle ride from Maidstone to Birmingham, a gruelling 300 mile ride over 3 days to raise money for Birmingham childrens hospital. We were able to provide funding for this great effort from the team.

It was a pleasure to visit the management teams from RG Group on their projects in Birmingham and Manchester city centres. I delivered a stress management workshop to the guys as well as a presentation on the importance of good quality sleep. Recognosing the signs and symptoms of workplace stress and advising on tools to deal with it proved very productive on both days. If your company would be interested in one of these workshops drop me an email and we can discuss a visit.

We are thrilled to be part of this program along side Changes Uk who have been developing and delivering innovative, person-centred support for people seeking abstinent recovery from drugs and/or alcohol addiction this great cycling initiative. We have provided funding for Bikes and training for lead riders to roll this out to as many people as possible. Multiple times a week the group meet up and go on a cycle ride, any levels are catered for and through getting fitter through cycling and regular mentoring we hope to help everybody involved on their "Road to Recovery"

From September to December 2021 Twentyfive children age 11-15 who had been adversely affected by lockdownd during the Covid-19 Pandemic were given funded places to attend 2 hours twice weekly football coaching sessions in the Erdington area. During lockdown physical and mental health in this age group were affected hugely. By getting the children used to going back out of the home environment, taking part in regular activity, mentoring and socializing again we believe we can assist them in gettin back to normality and regaining some physical and mental fitness.

Mark and Paul going through their paces in the weekly training sessions we have been doing with them. Both have worked really hard and have been really motivated in their training. Well done both!!

www.pauldevlinfootballcoaching.co.uk

We have courses running year round at venues in Erdington, Chelmsley Wood, Bromsgrove and Rugeley.
We also have Summer & Easter holiday camps where we have the children from 10am - 3pm for 4 or 5 days.
For full details on all of these please visit the website listed above.