Nimesh Patel visits Norfolk County FA

This week saw Regional Coach Development Officer for Diversity & Inclusion (East region), Nimesh Patel, visit Norfolk to support the County FA with their inclusive coaching offer, specifically around supporting and engaging with Black and Asian coaches.

Nimesh’s role at The FA is specifically focused around supporting the development of the Black and Asian coaches across the Eastern region. Nimesh has previously worked as a Coach Educator, Coach Mentor and within the County FA network. During his visit to Norfolk, Nimesh worked closely with Harry Diggens, Football Development Officer (Women’s & Girls’ and Coaching) and Rachel Cossey, Football Development Manager, around the County FA’s plan to recruit and deploy, as well as to support and develop, Black and Asian coaches in Norfolk.

Rachel Cossey, Football Development Manager said: “Having Nimesh’s input into the game locally is invaluable and has provided us with the opportunity to discuss and develop our current season long plans for engagement with Black and Asian coaches. Historically, we have lacked insight in this area, therefore this support has given us a better understanding as to how we can engage with different communities locally and get more black and Asian coaches into the game.” 

Nimesh also met with two members of our Inclusion Strategy Advisory Group (ISAG), Ken D’Rosario and Gabriel Evbota. The meeting provided an opportunity for Nimesh to understand more around the challenges locally with engaging and developing Black and Asian coaches, as well as the chance for the ISAG members to gain knowledge and challenge what support Nimesh will be able to offer coaches within Norfolk.

Listen to Nimesh Patel talk about his recent visit to Norfolk:

New Routes Football Sessions

New Routes is an organisation that works with and supports refugees, asylum seekers and isolated migrants promoting cross-cultural integration and community awareness in Norwich. They work with individuals and families from over 80 countries, speaking more than 60 different languages. The organisation has run community football sessions at the UEA Sportspark for well over a year, which regularly sees over 25 participants attend to partake each week. Nimesh, alongside Harry Diggens, attended on Tuesday evening to deliver a coaching session for the group, as well as engaging around coaching opportunities in Norfolk.

We spoke to New Routes Adult Support Coordinator and the organiser of Football Sessions, Patrick Heaton-Armstrong, about the impact football has to the refugees and asylum seekers:

Norfolk FA’s Football Development Officer (Women’s & Girls’ and Coaching), Harry Diggens added: “It was great to welcome Nimesh to Norfolk and have the opportunity to share our future plans to support and develop Black and Asian coaches within Norfolk Football.

“We were able to engage with a couple of members from our County FA Inclusion Strategy Advisory Group as well as delivering a coaching session for the refugee programme delivered by New Routes at the University. This visit will be the first of many, as Nimesh will continue to support Norfolk FA during the season.”

You can watch an overview of Nimesh’s visit to Norfolk below.

To find out more about New Routes please click here.

To find out more about our ISAG please contact our Football Development Manager, Rachel Cossey, on Rachel.Cossey@NorfolkFA.com.

To find out more about Coaching opportunities in Norfolk please e-mail Coaching@NorfolkFA.com.