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Cambiasso Links Up With Premier League Kicks
Esteban Cambiasso joined the Leicester City Community Trust Premier League Kicks team in an effort to help kick-start routes into education and employment for local youngsters.
The PL Kicks project has proven itself to be a huge success since its launch in 2006, with 50 Premier League and Football League clubs involved, and at Soar Valley College, Leicester City showed that it is leading the way.
In partnership with the Premier League and Leicestershire Police, the project has engaged with over 300 young people since it began, and to celebrate the success of the project, Esteban joined youngsters at the college to highlight just some of the good work that has been taking place.
The day began with a hard-hitting educational workshop from Paul Hannaford, who spoke honestly about his experiences with drugs, alcohol, knife-crime, gangs, guns and prison, before they took to the pitch for a special football tournament.
It was a competition that showed clearly the community cohesion that the PL Kicks project and the young people involved had helped to create, and Esteban was suitably impressed.
He told Foxes Player: “The youngsters had some very intelligent questions for me. I understand that they love football, and this is important because it’s the same for me.
“It’s the best because when you see them all smiling, it’s good, and if that’s what I can do, then I’m very happy. I spoke with them, but it’s better that they enjoy football because it’s a good opportunity to play together in a group.
“It’s important for us to be involved in these activities, but it’s more important for the young players. I’m happy for these boys. For the coaches, it’s hard work and it’s not easy, so for that I want to say thank you.”
Community Director Mick King stressed the importance of the project, telling Foxes Player that events similar to this one will have a significant impact on reducing criminal behaviour in young people, and in turn, provide them with the potential of a brighter future.
He said: “Premier League Kicks is an event that has been going for quite a few years now. It’s aimed at targeting young people in inner-city areas which helps us work towards crime-reduction and anti-social behaviour.
“More so than that, it gives them constructive pathways to progress to be the positive versions of themselves that they’re capable of being.
“It’s important to focus on its local impact. We’ve brought together two communities that have a lot of gang rivalry between. We’re using football as a way to bring those to neighbourhoods together, and also giving them some shared outcomes with courses and referral programmes that we move them on to.
“Professional players are brilliant in terms of inspiring young children – they look up to them because of their achievements.
“Even though you may not grow up to become a footballer, positive influences are good as they impact on a young person’s life.”
Operating among youngsters who had been previously difficult to reach, the PL Kicks project aims to use football to bring communities together, and steer those young people towards constructive activities.
It not only helps to open up routes for them into education, training and employment through things such as volunteering within the community, but also to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
And a big supporter of that was Leicestershire Police Chief Superintendent Rob Nixon, who highlighted the importance of the blossoming partnership between the police and Leicester City’s Community Trust.
He told Foxes Player: “This partnership that we have is one that tries to use sport as an enabler to get adults across different communities and faiths to come together and develop a peer network as well as life and leadership skills.
“Hopefully they will all go on to live a healthier lifestyle, but more importantly, they will make life choices at a really susceptible age.
“We know that the teams here are from areas of Leicester that may not have had the same opportunities as other areas. Premier League Kicks is about trying to create that opportunity and give them a bit of a platform where they can go forward, get fitter, create an understanding of different faiths, and hopefully prosper as they get older.
“We know that in some areas there has been a propensity to get involved in anti-social behaviour and low-level crime. This campaign helps people to divert away from that, and give them an alternate choice to get involved in some positive activity that will have a real benefit to them in later life.”
Leicester City’s Community Trust have been successfully delivering their PL Kicks project since October 2014 in the St Matthews, Highfields and Belgrave areas of Leicester, and will continue to strive towards the overall vision of bringing communities together by engaging with its young people through sport.
In partnership with the Premier League and Leicestershire Police, the project has engaged with over 300 young people since it began, and to celebrate the success of the project, Esteban joined youngsters at the college to highlight just some of the good work that has been taking place.
The day began with a hard-hitting educational workshop from Paul Hannaford, who spoke honestly about his experiences with drugs, alcohol, knife-crime, gangs, guns and prison, before they took to the pitch for a special football tournament.
It was a competition that showed clearly the community cohesion that the PL Kicks project and the young people involved had helped to create, and Esteban was suitably impressed.
He told Foxes Player: “The youngsters had some very intelligent questions for me. I understand that they love football, and this is important because it’s the same for me.
“It’s the best because when you see them all smiling, it’s good, and if that’s what I can do, then I’m very happy. I spoke with them, but it’s better that they enjoy football because it’s a good opportunity to play together in a group.
“It’s important for us to be involved in these activities, but it’s more important for the young players. I’m happy for these boys. For the coaches, it’s hard work and it’s not easy, so for that I want to say thank you.”
Community Director Mick King stressed the importance of the project, telling Foxes Player that events similar to this one will have a significant impact on reducing criminal behaviour in young people, and in turn, provide them with the potential of a brighter future.
He said: “Premier League Kicks is an event that has been going for quite a few years now. It’s aimed at targeting young people in inner-city areas which helps us work towards crime-reduction and anti-social behaviour.
“More so than that, it gives them constructive pathways to progress to be the positive versions of themselves that they’re capable of being.
“It’s important to focus on its local impact. We’ve brought together two communities that have a lot of gang rivalry between. We’re using football as a way to bring those to neighbourhoods together, and also giving them some shared outcomes with courses and referral programmes that we move them on to.
“Professional players are brilliant in terms of inspiring young children – they look up to them because of their achievements.
“Even though you may not grow up to become a footballer, positive influences are good as they impact on a young person’s life.”
Operating among youngsters who had been previously difficult to reach, the PL Kicks project aims to use football to bring communities together, and steer those young people towards constructive activities.
It not only helps to open up routes for them into education, training and employment through things such as volunteering within the community, but also to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.
And a big supporter of that was Leicestershire Police Chief Superintendent Rob Nixon, who highlighted the importance of the blossoming partnership between the police and Leicester City’s Community Trust.
He told Foxes Player: “This partnership that we have is one that tries to use sport as an enabler to get adults across different communities and faiths to come together and develop a peer network as well as life and leadership skills.
“Hopefully they will all go on to live a healthier lifestyle, but more importantly, they will make life choices at a really susceptible age.
“We know that the teams here are from areas of Leicester that may not have had the same opportunities as other areas. Premier League Kicks is about trying to create that opportunity and give them a bit of a platform where they can go forward, get fitter, create an understanding of different faiths, and hopefully prosper as they get older.
“We know that in some areas there has been a propensity to get involved in anti-social behaviour and low-level crime. This campaign helps people to divert away from that, and give them an alternate choice to get involved in some positive activity that will have a real benefit to them in later life.”
Leicester City’s Community Trust have been successfully delivering their PL Kicks project since October 2014 in the St Matthews, Highfields and Belgrave areas of Leicester, and will continue to strive towards the overall vision of bringing communities together by engaging with its young people through sport.
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