Joe Jackson, founder of NPV Football Development, has worked with at-risk young people from diverse backgrounds in Wolverhampton for the last 22 years. Having grown up locally and played professionally for Wolves, he uses his reputation and experience to steer youngsters away from the ever-present lure of gangs, violence and crime using the power of sport.
The 170 youngsters registered at the NPVFD soccer development centre come from black, white, eastern European and African backgrounds, but all share similar experiences and often live in areas with high levels of deprivation, crime and gang-related violence.
Joe’s approach mainly centres on intervention – engaging players as young as four before they can be nefariously influenced by older peers, but also unifying parents who are often affected by gang activity themselves.
These ingredients make NPVFD an ideal local delivery partner for the Levelling the Playing Field project. Joe hopes joining with us will help him to not only increase his positive impact, but also better record and demonstrate it; something he has lacked the resources to do up to now.
On the issues he tackles every day, Joe says: “Postcodes are a big divider round here. Everybody wants to be the king of their own castle and if you dare venture into mine then we’ve got problems.
“My belief and philosophy, developed over many years, is to get children in from the age of four so they make friends from all over the city and keep those friendship groups right up to 16 and beyond. The idea being that at that age, when they become exposed to gangs and rivalries, they already have in place bonds that quite naturally influence them positively and dissuade them from this culture of postcode violence.”
The sense of unity also spreads to the parents who put differences aside and are often encouraged to take part in a range of volunteering roles such as first aiders, coaches or even linesmen.
“We give people skills, abilities, resilience and sense of unity as a ‘family’, using the tool of football,” explains Joe. “It’s not something we preach or push, it’s happened organically in a subtle kind of way. We’re looking after the four-year old, but simultaneously we find ourselves giving support to parents who are often young people themselves aged 18, 19 or 20 years old.
The 170 youngsters registered at the NPVFD soccer development centre come from black, white, eastern European and African backgrounds, but all share similar experiences and often live in areas with high levels of deprivation, crime and gang-related violence.
Joe’s approach mainly centres on intervention – engaging players as young as four before they can be nefariously influenced by older peers, but also unifying parents who are often affected by gang activity themselves.
These ingredients make NPVFD an ideal local delivery partner for the Levelling the Playing Field project. Joe hopes joining with us will help him to not only increase his positive impact, but also better record and demonstrate it; something he has lacked the resources to do up to now.
On the issues he tackles every day, Joe says: “Postcodes are a big divider round here. Everybody wants to be the king of their own castle and if you dare venture into mine then we’ve got problems.
“My belief and philosophy, developed over many years, is to get children in from the age of four so they make friends from all over the city and keep those friendship groups right up to 16 and beyond. The idea being that at that age, when they become exposed to gangs and rivalries, they already have in place bonds that quite naturally influence them positively and dissuade them from this culture of postcode violence.”
The sense of unity also spreads to the parents who put differences aside and are often encouraged to take part in a range of volunteering roles such as first aiders, coaches or even linesmen.
“We give people skills, abilities, resilience and sense of unity as a ‘family’, using the tool of football,” explains Joe. “It’s not something we preach or push, it’s happened organically in a subtle kind of way. We’re looking after the four-year old, but simultaneously we find ourselves giving support to parents who are often young people themselves aged 18, 19 or 20 years old.
“We don’t talk about gangs here. Gangs are a symptom, not the cause; the real root causes are poverty, racism, lack of opportunities and education, which are issues that almost everyone around here is affected by.”
Young people generally arrive via word of mouth, attracted by Joe and the programme’s reputation and longevity, the diversity of ethnicities who play and coach, and the mix of discipline, unity and fun.
You can add opportunity into that mix: NPVFD has a school of excellence for six to 16-year olds which youngsters can graduate into after two years of attendance, if they show sufficient consistency, promise and dedication.
Most excitingly, Joe has a long-standing relationship with Wolverhampton Wanderers and will highlight his very best young players to the Premier League club’s talent scouts. Three have gone on to be signed.
Additionally, players aged 16-18 are given the opportunity to train as a coach. Futsal sessions have started on a Friday night (which local police have highlighted as a peak period for high youth crime) and there’s a ‘Girls Allowed’ (girls only) programme funded by Comic Relief.
Joe is a devout Christian and brings elements of his faith into his philosophy at the centre. Early in his life he was on the books at Wolves for six years and made his first-team debut aged 18 in the 1983/84 season. He had a good career in non-league at Worcester City, Yeovil Town and Dover Athletic.
As he approached the age of 30, his focus started to switch back to his old patch of WV10 and how he could use the power of football to address the serious issues he could see were unfolding whenever he visited home.
Twenty-two years on, and he has now gained vast experience, earned trust and respect and achieved two decades of positive outcomes with young people.
“I think we’ve got a very good model,” he says. “Our coaches are like big brothers to these kids, encouraging, sending them supportive text messages, making sure they’re OK. The old adage is true, young people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Young people generally arrive via word of mouth, attracted by Joe and the programme’s reputation and longevity, the diversity of ethnicities who play and coach, and the mix of discipline, unity and fun.
You can add opportunity into that mix: NPVFD has a school of excellence for six to 16-year olds which youngsters can graduate into after two years of attendance, if they show sufficient consistency, promise and dedication.
Most excitingly, Joe has a long-standing relationship with Wolverhampton Wanderers and will highlight his very best young players to the Premier League club’s talent scouts. Three have gone on to be signed.
Additionally, players aged 16-18 are given the opportunity to train as a coach. Futsal sessions have started on a Friday night (which local police have highlighted as a peak period for high youth crime) and there’s a ‘Girls Allowed’ (girls only) programme funded by Comic Relief.
Joe is a devout Christian and brings elements of his faith into his philosophy at the centre. Early in his life he was on the books at Wolves for six years and made his first-team debut aged 18 in the 1983/84 season. He had a good career in non-league at Worcester City, Yeovil Town and Dover Athletic.
As he approached the age of 30, his focus started to switch back to his old patch of WV10 and how he could use the power of football to address the serious issues he could see were unfolding whenever he visited home.
Twenty-two years on, and he has now gained vast experience, earned trust and respect and achieved two decades of positive outcomes with young people.
“I think we’ve got a very good model,” he says. “Our coaches are like big brothers to these kids, encouraging, sending them supportive text messages, making sure they’re OK. The old adage is true, young people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”