David Flitcroft interview: Grassroots coachathon for mental health and…

David Flitcroft interview: Grassroots coachathon for mental health and…

Dave Flitcroft, the former Barnsley, Swindon and Mansfield supervisor, will host the grassroots ‘coachathon’ later this month designed to boost consciousness for the funding of mental health and suicide prevention. The topic is private for him.

In 2008, his father John took his personal life. “It affects you incredibly,” he tells Sky Sports. “I was in a real dark place. I fell apart. The way it was put to me was that this bomb had gone off in my head and I was now dealing with the chaos after it.”

Flitcroft’s playing profession was coming to an end at the time. A younger coach at Rochdale, it was powerful. “My purpose had gone, my sense of belonging had gone. Everything in my life had just flatlined. I could not do anything. I was floored.

“My mum got here to live with us for two years. She used to say to me every morning, ‘I’m placing the battle paint on again.’ Her make-up. That was what she needed to do just to get out there to work and one way or the other just survive. You are in survival mode daily.

“We watched her fight, so we had to fight.”

Football and household saved him. “One million per cent. Coaching, with Rochdale’s help, received me via it. Keith Hill was a rock for me.

“I would get home from Rochdale at 5pm then from 5pm to 8pm go out and coach. Having amassed 100 kids, I founded a grassroots club FC Strikerz. I just got busy. If we are getting busy, we are getting better.”

The latest deaths of Ricky Hatton and Matt Beard have introduced the topic of mental health in sport to the fore. “I know first hand what those families are going through now. Pure devastation. We need to be more proactive in helping people.”

It has impressed Flitcroft to alter issues.

Sam Allardyce, the former England supervisor, shall be there in help the 24 grassroots groups concerned. “Nobody has said no yet,” says Flitcroft. “I have been overwhelmed by the response from some of the best in the game. Top coaches want to give back. I am going to coach for the full 12 hours.”

He is passionate about grassroots soccer. “Everyone starts there.” But recognises that it isn’t in place. “We can’t get referees to referee games now because they do not feel safe. I am at the rock face and it needs support.” Because it may be highly effective.

“Together we can improve it,” he provides.

“The grassroots community is one that is not tapped into enough to help support each other. I have started to do this more, with coaches and parents as well as players. Just go for a walk around the pitch with people. It sounds simple but ask if they are okay.

“You shall be stunned how often people open up and say they’ve had a tricky week. Check if they’ve the help they want. Get people speaking and sharing, get males speaking. A grassroots club might be like a supportive household, ensuring people are okay.

“We are there supporting our kids but are we supporting each other? That is what our grassroots community has to do. Coaches struggle, parents struggle. We are scheduling a campaign where the kids clap the parents for a month, then the coaches, then the referees. It is about everyone.”

But a lot of the focus is on younger people. “It is supporting boys and girls and keeping them safe. Anything that is not right – see it, report it, stop it. The Safety Net will pathway you to award-winning services.

“The latest one is vaping. Getting that messaging down in a child-friendly method to 12 to 16 years olds because the authorities will not do it. You have gotten to ensure that you might be in entrance of it, that there’s something to help our children, somebody to speak to.

“If it is good enough for the Premier League, why not the grassroots community? This is a pyramid and sometimes we forget where it starts. I don’t think that’s right with all the money that is swirling around. With support from local businesses we can change that.

“I’ve introduced it into my grassroots club and people have since said to me that they didn’t realise that they had an habit however they recognized the pink flags via Safety Net (based by Lee and Nick Richardson) so it’s offering that help for dad and mom and coaches as properly. It helps to alter lives.”

There is a imaginative and prescient to scale the project, a dream of a national day the place coaches give again to the game, however for now this stays private for Flitcroft. The grassroots team that he based has a badge with the initials JF on it. “The spirit of John Flitcroft,” he explains.

It was a horrible trauma to endure. But 17 years on, the legacy is usually a optimistic one. “Every time I coach a kid, I think about my dad and him coaching me, our Gaz and my younger brother Steve.

“It brings again the best recollections, not the later ones that can hang-out you. The coachathon has given me my why, my goal.”

To discover out more and help the grassroots coachathon go to Pathway To Pro

If you might be affected by these points or wish to discuss, please contact the Samaritans on the free helpline 116 123, or go to the web site www.samaritans.org

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