Health charity to offer children's football sessions from Champions League footballer
A leading health charity has joined forces with a North East Football Association to bring the sport into the lives of more young people.
The Northumberland FA has partnered with Ways to Wellness, an organisation pioneering the transformative use of non-medical interventions across the North East and beyond.
The pair have launched ‘Your Move’ - 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.
Starting on Thursday, September 18, 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.
The sessions 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 time 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 the Ways to Wellness SPACE Pilot (Social Prescribing And Community rEsources) programme at the Great North Children's Hospital, 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.
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!”
As well as Sunderland, Kylla Sjoman has played for Celtic, Slavia Prague and more.
Sessions will run over a six week period and are available to book now through the Northumberland FA website.