Middlesbrough FC first-team players Sam McQueen and Danny Batth helped the Foundation deliver a football session to children with Cerebral Palsy on our Borobility programme.
The players, on loan from Southampton and Wolves respectively, spent Tuesday evening at the Acorn Centre in Acklam, working alongside MFC Foundation disability coaches to support the session, which is funded through the BT & Premier League Disability Fund.
The children started the session with warm-up activities designed to increase their heart-rates, such as ‘Splat Tag’ which involved throwing coloured bibs at your opponents.
Next up was a game of ‘Stuck in the Mud Football’, which required teams to work together to dribble a football through their team-mates legs to free them after being tagged.
The warm-up finished with a game of ‘Pirates of the Carribbean’, which saw the children run from one side of the sports hall to the other to steal from the two Boro players who were guarding the treasures.
To finish off, the children split into two sides, ‘Team Danny’ and ‘Team Sam’, to play a game of five-a-side football until the end of the session.
Photograph: Stuart Boulton
On the visit to the Borobility, Sam said: “We came down and had a great time. It’s something we can enjoy ourselves, take part and get to meet people from all different areas and backgrounds, like the kids today with Cerebral Palsy. It’s good to meet them, and hopefully we could help them out.
“The community is there for us, and does a lot for us. They support us on the match days, both the clubs and the players, and it doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s our job to repay their loyalty and interest in us.
“Playing games with the kids gets them active, gets them enjoying sport, and despite the conditions they have, it can really lift them, and the chance to meet other children in similar situations.”
Photograph: Stuart Boulton.
Danny added: “This was the first time I’ve had the chance to come out [into the local community] and visit the kids. Club’s like Middlesbrough are well supported, and coming along today you can see that first hand. The kids have had a great time, and they’re all going home happy and smiling, and probably a bit exhausted as well!”
MFC Foundation currently run FREE weekly football sessions for children age 5-16, with conditions such as Cerebral Palsy, Downs Syndrome and Deaf & hard of hearing, as well a Pan-Disability session.
For more information, contact lee.grace@mfcfoundation.co.uk or call 01642 757674.