Accrington Stanley Community Trust launched the Premier League Kicks programme in September 2016 with the aim to create a safe, friendly environment to develop young people’s potential. The project provides access to facilities, equipment, coaching and mentoring.
Premier League Kicks is a free of charge weekly session devoted to football. It offers local 11-17 year olds an opportunity to train, develop their skills and get a taste into the world of football. Getting involved with this programme has many other beneficial aspects as well, individuals will get to learn from professional coaches, get fit and healthy and meet new people their age with the same interests and love for football. We find through these projects it becomes more than just a weekly football training session; it becomes a community.
Every weekly session our coaches provide an hour full of football based activities. It usually involves a warm up, friendly training, weekly matches and penalty shoot outs.
Lee Walsh Head of Sport at Accrington Stanley Community Trust explains ‘the Premier League Kicks project provides free physical activity for local young people, this is much needed, especially at the moment when opportunities for young people to take part in activities have been so limited due to the pandemic. Some of the young people who have been coming for years have grown so much in confidence and for many its led into volunteering, training and for some even paid work in the sports industry.’
It has proven successful, it has guided young people towards leading a healthier and more proactive lifestyle. By engaging young adults into an activity their interested in, the local area has been transformed with impressive sports participation rates and the authorities reporting significant reductions in anti-social behaviour. The scheme has also enabled individuals to find routes into sports education, training and employment.
Young adults in the age range of 11-17 are welcome to turn up and sign up on the night. The weekly sessions are hosted at Stanley Sports Hub a brand new facility with a new 3G pitch to give the best experience possible, every Monday and Friday 5pm-6pm. With so much interest we also have a third session on Fridays 7pm-8pm at Hyndburn Leisure Centre.
