Power of Football in the Community
First off this week, we'd like to wish a very happy 18th birthday to the legend (and subject of this week's fantastic film, below) that is Harvey.
I met Harvey when he came up to the Leeds parkrun office with the Brighton Table Tennis Club (BTTC) in December 2021, and was immediately struck by how capable, determined, and humble he was. Since then we've been lucky enough to spend more time with Harvey and the BTTC community, and know that he's overcome the most remarkable challenges throughout a roller-coaster childhood. To see him grow into such an incredible adult is so inspiring.
Keeping on the theme of young people with care experience, it was an honour to meet Sam Neath at this week's EFL in the Community hashtag#EFLWeekOfAction event at Coventry City Football Club (where we also had the good fortune of bumping into Ivo Gormley OBE). Sam has 20-years of experience in the social work sector, and recently set up Pro Alliance Sports C.I.C, where he aims to give children in care access to and experience of football. If you're interested in his amazing work please do drop him a line (thanks Simon Lansley for the intro 👍🏻).
Reversing through the week, on Wednesday I was luck enough to spend the afternoon with the team at I Speak Football, an incredible group of people, dedicated to supporting displaced young people in learning English through the medium of football.
Prior to that, on Tuesday, we spent the morning with Lam Joar (talking of incredibly inspirational), Oliver Cook OLY, and Alexander Betts (Pro-Vice-Chancellor for External Engagement, Sport, and Community at the University of Oxford). Oxford University is world renowned for it's excellence, expertise, and academic standards, but what really struck Chris and I was the passion that Lam, Ollie, and Alex all shared for contributing to the world through the medium of community sport. We're excited to find paths for collaboration.
And that afternoon, feeling somewhat humbled by a morning of incredible stories, Chris Lomax MBE and I headed off to the Charlton Athletic Community Trust. We're hoping to do some work with Jason Morgan MBE and his team, and also got to spend some time chatting to the brilliant Paul Elliot (Paul played for Charlton, Aston Villa, Pisa, and Celtic - becoming the first black player to be named Scotland’s footballer of the year - and then Chelsea, where he became the Premier League’s first black captain. He now has an MBE and CBE for his services to equality, diversity, and inclusion).
And finally, to kick off yet another fantastic week, last Monday we were lucky enough to spend time with Matt Rogan, who's lending us his expertise, experience, and passion, in an attempt to help us turn this incredible adventure into a legitimate business.
That's it for another seven days, thanks everyone for being amazing.
And thanks again Harvey for inspiring me to try and be a better version of myself ❤️
https://lnkd.in/ejnzPwdf