How collaboration is helping us break down barriers to the beautiful game
Ways to Wellness is excited to have joined forces with Northumberland Football Association (FA) to ensure more of the region’s young people can access England’s national sport.
Starting this Thursday (18 September) ‘Your Move’ is a programme of inclusive training sessions for teenagers with acute or long-term health conditions that make it difficult to take part in traditional footballing environments.
The outdoor sessions, which will be run by Kylla Sjoman, a former Champions League footballer that has played for her home country of Canada, as well as with Sunderland AFC Women, are open to those aged 13 to 17 and have been made possible by the FA’s Journey to Inclusion Fund.
Taking place from 5pm each Thursday on the 3G pitch at St Peter’s Sports Hub in Wallsend, North Tyneside, Kylla, who is now Northumberland FA’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Officer, will spend 50-minutes with youngsters, tailoring non-contact training to their individual needs to build fitness, skills, and confidence.
The idea came about after Fliss Hunter-Nott, a specialist social prescribing link worker on our SPACE Pilot (Social Prescribing And Community rEsources) programme at the Great North Children's Hospital, which supports children and young people with chronic, complex conditions, noticed there was no existing football training provider that could meet the needs of one of the patients she works with.
Together with Helen Rowland, a physiotherapist at the hospital that serves on Northumberland FA’s Inclusion Advisory Board, she brought the idea to create something new to Kylla’s team, led by Head of Football Development David Jones, and ‘Your Move’ was developed.
David explained: “There is a lot of disability football support, and there are lots of mainstream training programmes, but Ways to Wellness helped us identify a support gap for young people with complex health conditions that neither of these options is quite right for.
“Depending on what participants want, we may hold an end-of-year walking football match to test the skills they’ve gained with us – and we’re really looking forward to making a start!”
‘Your Move’ will initially run for six weeks before taking a winter break, as the outdoor facility at the hub won’t be suitable for the young people it is aimed at during the colder months.
Young people can register to take part in ‘Your Move’ on a form on the Northumberland FA website at northumberlandfa.com, and to find out more about SPACE Pilot, and how it supports the young people in its care, and their families, visit waystowellness.org.uk/space-pilot.
