Hayley Templeman learnt at school that football could offer far more than the thrill of scoring a goal.

The lifelong Albion fan played women’s football for her favourite club and has travelled the world with the help of coaching qualifications.

Now she is playing a lead role with the Brighton and Hove Albion Foundation, helping 11-to-16-year-olds use skills that can be learned in the environment of a competitive team sport to help meet challenges in education and everyday life.

Hayley, 42, is now the Foundation’s schools development officer.

Her efforts have been recognised as she was named the club’s Community Captain as part of a Premier League initiative.

The award was made at the Amex on open training day but the role is everyday and ongoing.

Hayley said: “I’ve worked for the Foundation for 11-and-a-half years and I have always been passionate about sport, football and education so combining those has been perfect for me.

“A lot of the work I do is in schools.

“I work with kids who have special educational needs.

“Running the Premier League Inspires programmes in schools is really beneficial to them to give them something they really enjoy and to educate them.

“We want them to be better individuals.

“We are looking at soft skills, so communication, team work, resilience and making them more well-rounded and passionate with more drive and setting more goals for themselves.

“We do some mentoring and well-being check-ins with one-to-ones as well as small group sessions, where we can give them lots of attention, using football as a focus.

“We might start a session with a team-build game, which is quite fun, but then we reflect on that.

“We look at what did they learn, what skills did they use and how they can take those skills into everyday life.

“Then we might do some football-based programmes.

“As we all know, football is really important for communication and teamwork – winning and losing and being respectful and helping each other.

“If you foul someone, how can you react or how can the opponent react as well?

“It’s keeping that positive mindset all the time.

“It is trying to support their education.

“It might be that person is having some challenges in school and maybe not showing those skills in other lessons.

“Maybe we can do it in smaller settings in our delivery with Brighton and Hove Albion Foundation using the Premier League Inspires programme.

"Then we can look at these skills and tell them, 'You CAN use these skills, you CAN take them away and you CAN do it in everyday life as well." 

“Building their self-esteem, their confidence and wanting them to better themselves, raise their goals and their aspirations for the future.

“Sometimes they might have been dealt a tough hand but, if we can do something that draws something out of them, that gives them something to be passionate about and inspires them, we have done our job.

“We have an amazing team. The wider organisation has been doing their great work for many years."

Hayley had heard about the Foundation, which was called Albion In The Community at the time, and had teaching qualifications.

She said: “Going through college, getting some qualifications, I was able to travel the world and coach.

“I learnt football isn’t just about kicking the ball into the goal, it was about so much more.

“To come back to Brighton, where I am from, and do it with my local team is brilliant.”

In nominating her for the award, Albion told the Premier League: “Hayley demonstrates her professionalism, dedication and work ethic on a daily basis and continues to be an exceptional and valuable team member, an incredible team player and a powerful role model to all her participants, but particularly women and girls looking towards a career in sport or football.

“She is a talented coach and her work in the LGBTQ+ community is greatly respected. We are so lucky to have her here at the Foundation."