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NEWS |
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ESSEX
COUNTY F.A. MAKE TWO NEW SIGNINGS !
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Essex football's staff workforce
expanded once more recently with two quality additions
made to the County Office squad heading into an exciting
new season, David Dixon as Referee Development Officer
and Lucy Faraday as Community Coach.
Both positions involve working with existing identical
posts at the County Office in Chelmsford, David joining
forces with Terry Thacker in the thick of referee issues
while Lucy will perform a similar job to coach Andy
Edmunds in supporting E.C.F.A. initiatives countywide,
although more specifically in the Women's & Girls'
arena.
David claims to be specifically looking forward to
working for the betterment of all referees within the
County and with other partners in football to raise the
level of understanding of the Laws of the Game. Prior to
his appointment he was a Referee Development Officer at
the Surrey County F.A. for almost a year. Previously he
has been a Sports & Exercise Psychology Lecturer at
the University of East London and worked with national
and international teams and individuals as a mental
skills coach.
"I've so far been busy in my initial period
settling at the Office, updating the information on the
E.C.F.A. Mentors Database with a view to attempting to
recruit more and help existing referees at all
levels," David explained. "I also attended the
inaugural matches of the new Essex Futsal League where I
was able to view first-hand the referees in this type of
football and pass on some pointers."
Outside of the Office, David is one of the County's few
Cork City supporters, revealing: "Due to my
involvement as an active referee I don't get much time
to follow a team, but I do make a point of finding out
the Cork result as I spent a lot of time over there with
my family and I have been known to attend a few West Ham
United games in my time."
Now looking forward to being on the panel for Academy
Referee Interviews moving towards 2008/09, David
continued: "I'm not operating in a new role, as
such, as Terry has been doing the same job now for five
years. But with a County as big as Essex it has been
recognised there is scope for two people to do the job
and we will be working together towards The Football
Association's vision in relation to the recruitment and
retaining of referees."
Lucy, meanwhile, has previously been employed on the
East Coast of America in Major League Soccer, working
with boys and girls of all ages as well as coaching the
local High School team. She played for South Coast
Scorpions whilst out in the States and has appeared for
Brentwood Town Ladies since returning. Also a former
coach of Southend United Ladies, Lucy claims to have
been a firm Shrimpers supporter since her childhood.
"I'm really looking forward to getting out there
and coaching," she added. "Having played from
a young age myself I know how important it is to get
kids into football young. If they find it enjoyable when
first starting out they're more likely to carry on
playing in adult life. I'm also aiming to reinforce the
links between grassroots clubs and local
communities."
"So far I have been based in the County Office
working with Sharon Brownlie to secure sessions in the
London Boroughs, which is where I will be predominantly
working to help increase participation amongst women and
girls." Lucy's position has been made possible
thanks to a £10,000 grant from Tesco and the National
Sports Foundation as part of their commitment towards
developing the women's and girls' game."
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