GGWCUP team from England
Team Feel Brave will be playing for Global Goal 3 Good Health & Well-being
About coach Becca Todd
Bristol, UK
My motivation to be part of this special GGWCup & Erasmus+ Programme project
“The Global Goals World Cup is an amazing opportunity for women of all backgrounds to have a chance to be involved in a spectacular showcase of female football, fun and empowerment. I am really excited to be a part of the team that will enable women to do what they never knew was possible: to play and travel as a team and be part of something life-changing!
Our team’s aim is to focus on mental health and wellbeing. It is a topic that many of our players are affected by directly or indirectly- and we are passionate about helping other people to discover sport and exercise as a way to enhance confidence and improve self-esteem. Everyone always says at training that they feel fantastic during football and they love getting together with the other girls to kickstart the weekend!”
Meet the team: Feel Brave
Playing for Global Goal 3 - good health and well-being
Feel Brave F.C is a women's football team ... with a difference! They use sport to help young people to find their confidence and have fun! The are totally inclusive; and welcome players from all backgrounds to come together to play for fitness, fun and friendship. Get ready to build confidence through sport.
Feel Brave FC was launched in December 2018. See the first start-up meeting here.
Everyone is welcome so they are expanding the team week by week as new players join and play football to enhance mental and physical health.
Follow the team on instagram @feelbrave.ambassadors.
Supporting organizations
The team will be supported by Feel Brave and funded by Wesport. We collaborate directly with the amazing charities One25 and 1625 Independent People; both of which do extraordinary work to support girls and women.
Resume
Becca has dedicated herself to coaching and sports development experience all across the globe; always trying to give back to the communities and learn from them!
Becca’s education is based upon an Exercise & Sports Science BSc. From the University of Exeter; in which she specialised in applied Sports Psychology – (looking at the visual and motor patterns of children with disabilities when they take penalties). Her next venture will be to study Applied Neuroscience to enable her to enhance the curriculum of Feel Brave and ensure that the activities optimise the confidence, self-esteem and empowerment of girls and women.
Becca also has a CELTA award in teaching English as a foreign language; which has enabled her to coach football for various charities and community groups for free- whilst teaching English in parallel. The world loves “the beautiful game” and so Becca has taken opportunities to coach as much as she can, some highlights are:
Kenya: Becca was part of a coaching team that delivered HIV/AIDS awareness courses through football, to women in MYSA, Mathare slum area of Nairobi on behalf of Tackle Africa. She also played several “football marathons” to fundraise for Tackle Africa; which she says is an unforgettable experience! Becca pioneered the inaugural “Beach Football” marathon (12 hours of football on Exmouth beach!) during her final year at university which promoted and fundraised for Tackle Africa’s invaluable work abroad.
Ghana: Becca coached for three consecutive summers (2010,11,12) football and various other sports to communities in Ho, Volta with the brilliant Dynamo FC & Kickstart Ghana. The passion for football in Ghana is incredible and the people are some of the loveliest that Becca says she has ever met!
Becca’s first coaching organisation “Futbolistas Football Coaching” (founded when she was 18yrs old) supported the work of Kickstart Ghana whilst delivering sessions to children in the UK and also in New Zealand.
Colombia: Becca pioneered a youth football team for an orphanage in one of the most deprived areas of Cartagena in Colombia. She also helped to coach teams across the city including Marzola Youth FC & a team for women (single mums, women suffering from domestic violence etc) on the island of Tierra Bomba.
During the London 2012 Olympics, Becca was the Team Liaison Officer (direct support and translator) for the Colombian Women’s National team- which was an incredible insight for her into sport at the highest level; and everything that happens behind-the-scenes to support the top athletes in the world.
Chile: In Chile Becca founded and coached an inclusive sports club for young people with a range of disabilities; the first of its kind in Temuco. The club was called “Fénix” and continued even after she left Chile. Becca also launched girls’ football teams in a local state school and coached the city’s inaugural social women’s football group. In addition she taught English and ran an art and graffiti project to brighten up the school!
Peru: Aged 19 Becca and her friend volunteered for 6 months in Peru directing a street children's charity in Cusco, in which they ran free classes for underprivileged children, undertook fundraising events, delivered health and sex education to local women and coordinated a team of international volunteers.
New Zealand: Becca took two opportunities to work as a football development officer in New Zealand for WaiBOP football federation (2008 & 2013). She coached regional teams, focused on enhancing the female football provision and disability sport work. She also volunteered at the U17 Women’s World Cup and attended a FIFA Elite Women’s Coaching seminar.
After resigning from NZ football development she went on to work as a PE teacher in a wonderful Maori primary school (Putuaki School) in one of the most deprived area of the country. During this time she also developed her own coaching organisations to help give kids confidence, combat bullying (The Fénix Club) and increase opportunities for young people in the area to play sport.
Germany: Becca volunteered coaching football at a refugee camp to children from Syria, Afganistan & Iraq to support the charity “Kick for girls & boys”. There was a huge language barrier but Becca could see that football transcended international language and gave the children a chance to connect with eachother (and also argue a lot!). She also attempted to assist with coaching a girls’ youth football team despite having to learn German from scratch- this demonstrated to her the power of non-verbal communication and simplicity in coaching!!
UK: Becca started her coaching career aged 14 when she coached her friends at school and went on to create teams for younger students. She took a huge range of coaching opportunities and studied many coaching qualifications across various sports during her teenage years and whilst at university which provided her with the insight and experience to coach around the world.
During her teenage years Becca played elite level football at Reading FC Academy and Reading Women’s FC as well as for the regional squad Berks & Bucks. At university she captained the University of Exeter 1st XI and coached the other women’s teams. During her three years at Exeter she was awarded the Floella Benjamin award for Entrepreneurs (she used this to develop her coaching organisation: Fustbolistas), as well as winning the University of Exeter Team Captain of the Year, Sports Volunteer of the Year and receiving commendations for Academic Excellence from the Sports Science Department. She was also voted “Mrs St Lukes” by her peers for encompassing the spirit and tenacity of St Luke’s University Campus!
For the past 2 years Becca has been coaching in Bristol, England. During this time she has moved towards outdoor sports and adventure instructing with the charity Urban Pursuit (working with vulnerable teenagers to re-enage them in education and society) as well as obtaining her Stand-Up Paddleboarding Instructor license (very fun!) and her Climbing Instructor qualification.
Becca applies her knowledge of sports science, coaching and outdoor and adventure mentoring to create exciting and inspiring sessions for the Feel Brave groups in order to engage them in sport and help them to have fun with friends.
Global Goals World Cup: Becca has been helping, volunteering and designing games for the Global Goals World Cup since her resignation from NZ football development in 2013. She volunteered at the Dana Youth Football Cup in Denmark delivering sessions about the UN Global Goals, as well as creating GG Impact Games to share with coaches and teachers around the world. Becca was delighted to have an opportunity to be involved directly in the European Global Goals World Cup 2019 and can’t wait to bring Feel Brave FC to represent the UK!
Awards & acknowledgements
Organisation Leadership: (Director and Founder)
ï Feel Brave: Girls’ and women’s confidence and empowerment through sport. 2016+
ï Futbolistas Football Coaching: Coaching, promoting volunteering, female focused football and sports +promoting and giving 25% profits to KickStartGhana. UK, Ireland & NZ. 2008-2014
ï Fénix: Children’s Confidence boosting & anti-bullying through Sport & Art club in NZ. Fénix Inclusive Sports Club for players with disabilities in Chile. 2014-2016
ï Conexa: (www.conexalanguages.wix.com/conexa) Language teaching: Chile & Germany. 2016-2017.
Qualifications
Native and Professional English teacher, Fluent bilingual Spanish, Conversational German and Italian. Attempting to learn French and Portuguese!
UEFA B Football (course complete)
FIFA Elite Women's football training course
University of Southampton Solent & Kickit Out. Equality & Diversity Awareness Course in Football.
UN Women Valencia CF football for development course
CELTA Award in Teaching English as a Foreign Language
Level 3 Award in Education & Training (Tutor Training)
FA Youth Award (modules 1,2 & 3) ,Football Level 1, 2, Futsal, Disability Football
RFU Rugby Level 1, Basketball Level 1, Dodgeball Level 2, Swimming Level 1 etc
Stand Up Paddle boarding Instructor & Climbing instructor course
Meet the Europe Ambassador coaches
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