Coram’s Fields ‘Basketball Legends’

I AM still in contact with a lot of people – all adults now – who I would have coached over the years.

And it’s lovely that so many pop by into my office from time to time to say “hello” and generally give me some witty banter about how I like rugby (played with a funny shaped ball) over football (the beautiful game).

It fills me with pride to know I have had some positive impact on their lives, especially during the difficult transition from childhood to adolescence.

To celebrate 15 years of working at Coram’s Fields, I thought it would be a lovely idea to get in contact with the young people I have coached to attend a “Coram’s Fields Legends Football Tournament”.

Sports co-ordinator and youth worker Naz Deen

They’re all legends in my eyes, whether they played sport to enhance their personal development, play elite-level sport professionally, or simply to have fun.

I thought it would be fantastic to reconnect and share memories of their time at Coram’s Fields, whether it be representing the sports team in competitions or making friendships for life.

It has been an interesting, sometimes challenging, place to work. Coram’s Fields, based in Russell Square, south Camden is a wonderful yet complex community. It is deemed an affluent area but with pockets of huge deprivation.

The rich and poverty spectrum is so stark and this divide is only getting bigger by crime,
anti-social behaviour; gentrification; health inequalities; homelessness; the Covid-19 pandemic; supporting refugees; and cost of living crisis, and the challenges we face today.

My ethos has always been that sport can improve individuals personal and social development. Measuring success and outcomes is relative.

I have coached young people who are now playing elite level rugby and football, winning titles in boxing and MMA, mixed martial arts, and I’m equally proud of those who used their personal sporting journey to improve their school results or divert from a life of gang-affiliated crime.

Several players have gone on to volunteer at Coram’s Fields, becoming mentors and role models to the next generation.

Young people mentoring other young people from their community will always be far more inspiring than a middle-aged bloke like me.

A few now work full time in the out of school club, youth centre and sports development team.

My former football captain from 2006 to 2009 is now the youth programme manager at Coram’s Fields.

‘Football Legends’ Coram’s Fields FC 2013

My former central defender, who would get sent off every other game because of his fiery and passionate temperament, is now delivering sport to thousands of young people every year. Don’t worry, his temper has improved now he’s older and wiser.

It’s like going the “full circle of life” at Coram’s Fields: accessing our services as a baby, going through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, to going on to becoming a full-time employee at the place you grew up.

What a great model. What a great story.

When I first started working at Coram’s Fields 15 years ago, I never dreamt of being here so long. I started off as a sports coach, but there were no football teams and only one organised sports activity a week.

There was no organised sport for girls and women, or those children with special educational needs and or disabilities. This was scandalous.

I organised six-days-a-week, free, sports-for-all-abilities and our work includes using a trauma-informed model of engaging young people affected by gang-affiliated crime.
We have never charged a penny.

We rely on grants and donations. These experiences are open to all and the cost is completely removed, to give young people the opportunity to make lifelong friendships and to live a happy and healthy life.

• Naz Deen is a sports co-ordinator and youth worker and Head of Youth and Sport Coram’s Fields.