Stones coach Rewarded

Maidstone United FC celebrated this week as Tyke Harvey was announced as the 2009 County FA Charter Standard Coach of the year.

Tyke started coaching with the Club's disability players in 2004 when the Club formed South Park Raiders FC, the disability section of South Park Rangers FC.

Tyke, who was 22 years old at the time, took on the responsibility to help work with special needs players which meant giving up his time every weekend to give all players their first positive experience of playing football.

Tyke has been instrumental in the development of the disability section of the Club and at the early stages his volunteering was fitted around a very demanding full-time job in the Army. At the time, Tyke was based in Abingdon near Oxford and returned to Maidstone every weekend to take training sessions.

Tyke also had two tours of Iraq and another in Afghanistan decided to leave the Army after eight years service and following a successful FA Charter Standard School - Club link between South Park Rangers FC and Bower Grove Special Needs School, he was delighted to be offered a full time position as a TA Sports teacher.

With this added responsibility, Tyke continued his volunteer work within Maidstone United FC (South Park Rangers FC merged with MUFC last season) and is now an FA Level 1 Coach and holds numerous awards including FA Disability Level 1 and is looking to successfully complete his Level 2 assessment very soon.

His personal development has continued and he has recently completed the BSL Level 1 signing course and a FA Deaf Awareness course. This experience and knowledge is extremely beneficial to the Club and all players who are under his guidance to always improve and develop new skills and confidence.

Tyke is also Maidstone United FC Ladies Head coach and trains the group every Thursday evening as well as ensuring all Club kit and equipment is up to date with all teams provided with the necessary equipment.

As well as all this volunteering with the club Tyke also finds time to coach with the Kent County FA Deaf Squads.

Director of Administration for Maidstone United FC, Mike Littleboy praised Tyke by saying 'We are very proud of Tyke and very happy to have him play such a unique and pivotal role within the club'.

For further details of the FA Charter Standard Programme please contact lee.suter@kentfa.com.