SHAPING the future of the region's young coaches has been entrusted to three outstanding sports students. Natasha Collins, Lauren Bates and Sarah Rowbotham have been selected to assist Durham Football Association with their Young Leaders Programme, having successfully completed the course themselves.

The trio are all BTEC National Diploma students at Hartlepool College of Further Education who were last year selected from thousands of College students to attend a National Young Leaders Camp at Nottingham Trent University.

There they met former England footballer Stuart Pearce, who talked them through the importance of coaching at grass roots level.

Natasha said: “We applied for the training camp because we really enjoyed the coaching courses we had been doing at Hartlepool College of FE and wanted more of an insight into how the professionals do it."

“It was great to meet Stuart. He talked to us about what it is like to coach people with disabilities and people with varying levels of ability, as well as professionals."

“Psycho was really canny!” She laughed.

On their return, the students were enlisted by Durham FA to help organise the North East Young Leaders Day at Chester-le-Street on March 25. There they will present to 60 potential young coaches about their experiences at the National Camp and guide groups of students around the various learning programmes.

Chris Smith, County Development Manger at Durham FA, said: “The girls are a real credit to Hartlepool College of Further Education. They are an absolute joy to work with and always willing to go that extra mile to make sure everything is right.

“It should be a very worthwhile day and the fact that it has been put together by young coaches who have gone through the National Programme makes all the difference. We hope they will continue to be involved with Durham FA in the future as they are a real asset.”

All three students play football for Hartlepool St Francis and are working towards their Level 2 coaching badges. They are expected to pass their BTEC with distinctions.

Natasha has been accepted into Durham University to study for a BA Hons in Sport and Social Sciences and is planning on becoming a PE teacher. She currently coaches on the Pathways scheme in the town, for people with disabilities.

She said: “I love coaching with Pathways, we have people in from 14 to 80 doing many different sports with them. It helps you learn how to work with different people and how much you get out of putting your time into something like that.”

Shaun Hope, Sports Lecturer at Hartlepool College of Further Education, said: “All three girls are fantastic students. They go above and beyond what they are expected to do for their College work and the fact that Durham FA has asked them to help shape next year's Young Coaches shows how highly regarded they are.

“All three came to the College because they were interested in careers in sport. In the summer they can walk straight into universities with their qualifications and go for the jobs they want.”

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