Tankerton FC Background

Tankerton FC is a community based Football Club and registered charity with a big focus on youth. We are proud to say that currently we have over 350 boys and girls registered with us - their ages range from 5 to 18 years old and most of them come from the East Kent area. We have been established since 1996 and now have 31 teams at the club including an Under 21 side and 2 Veterans team.

All our coaches are volunteers(nearly all have other full time jobs not associated with football) and give up their time for free to coach the boys and girls. We operate on a not for profit basis and the club is a registered charity. We use all our subscriptions to provide football equipment and facilities for the children, as well as ensuring the coaches are all trained to FA standards.All our coaches are CRB checked and have to obtain the FA level 1 coaching standard. We have many coaches with FA level 2 and some with Uefa B qualifications.

We are also very pleased to say we were made Kent FA’s Charter Standard Development Club of the Year for two years running (2012 & 2013), before being promoted to FA Chartered Community Club level.

This we run our club to the highest standards from coaching, first aid and child protection through to the club organisation and development plans as laid down by the English FA, and monitored by the Kent FA.

Our club is not just about the kicking a ball about there is lots more to us than this. This is shown in the charity’s objectives:

Education, Social responsibilities and Community.

Yes we want to help the children improve their football skills,their health and fitness,their knowledge of the game, and to enjoy their time at the club, but also we want to help to develop the children’s interaction with their peer group, older and younger children, and adults; to develop cross school friendships and to learn about social responsibilities and community interaction; and also to provide learning and development opportunities on a wider scale.

For instance on the football front we have arranged many excursions such as trips to watch England play their first competitive match at the new Wembley stadium, England Under 21s play, to see local teams in action such as Whitstable Town, Canterbury City and Gillingham, and several teams have now trained with Charlton Athletic community coaches and watched their first team in action in SE London.

But with a wider focus the club has joined up with the Whitstable Twinning Association to help strengthen local ties through sporting and youth development with our twin towns and European neighbours, and each year we take 30 or more children and their families across to France to spend the weekend in Dainville near Arras, with a reciprocal arrangement in place for the French children and their families. Many of them have had the opportunity to meet the French Mayor and the regional MP, talk and mix informally and test their language skills with their new French friends over picnics and barbeques and the children play football in mixed Anglo/French teams in the evenings until the sun sets late into the summer evening.

We are also now involved in exchanges withBelgium club JS Ittre, and in previous years we have taken children to Ireland to participate in a tournament.We are working with local schools and Universities in helping promote health and physical activity through football. Our coaches run some school football sessions and liaise with schools over junior football. Students from the Universities run some of our teams. We also put children through sporting qualifications such as Junior Leader Courses and FA Refereeing courses. This has helped with GCSE module work many obtaining A or A* in the module because of doing these courses.

We are working with the local council to develop sporting and recreational facilities throughout the local area. We aim to be a football club open to everyone, run to the highest standards, free from discrimination of any sort, and a true community partner active and visible in the local area, providing children with both social and healthy sporting development opportunities. It is a true community club with members from age 5 to OAPs who help.

Leaders in our Field

We also are one of the leading clubs in the country for youth, having established a Youth Council giving the children a voice in the running of the club and we have just changed our constitution to give them even more say. One of our Youth council members is on the Kent FA Youth Council and is the SE Regional Co-ordinator for the National England FA Youth Council.

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Tankerton FC is a progressive club with an excellent reputation having been Kent FA Standard Charter Development Club of the Year for two years running before being awarded Community Club Status this year. The club is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation run by a board of trustees and a strong committee. Tankerton FC Football Club© | 0845 269 5912 |  Registered Charity No. 1154570