Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

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Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

When Leicester City in the Community first met Zak, he was a year 5 pupil at a Leicester primary school he had recently joined, and was, at the time, struggling with the transition.

2026-01-31T11:00+00:00

by Admin

Published

31 Jan, 2026

Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

When Leicester City in the Community first met Zak, he was a year 5 pupil at a Leicester primary school he had recently joined, and was, at the time, struggling with the transition.

Admin

2026-01-31T11:00+00:00

Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

When Leicester City in the Community first met Zak, he was a year 5 pupil at a Leicester primary school he had recently joined, and was, at the time, struggling with the transition.

Admin

2026-01-31T11:00+00:00

Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

When Leicester City in the Community first met Zak, he was a year 5 pupil at a Leicester primary school he had recently joined, and was, at the time, struggling with the transition.

Admin

2026-01-31T11:00+00:00

Zak’s Journey With Leicester City in the Community

When Leicester City in the Community first met Zak, he was a year 5 pupil at a Leicester primary school he had recently joined, and was, at the time, struggling with the transition.

Admin

2026-01-31T11:00+00:00

Zak was always a confident young boy, but had difficulties in managing anger and frustration, which were beginning to affect both his school life and home life. Concerned for his wellbeing, the school referred Zak to Play On, a targeted support programme delivered by our Club’s charitable arm - funded and supported by CAHMS through Leicestershire Partnership NHS trust.

Leicester City in the Community works closely with local partner CAMHS on the delivery of the Play On programme, which aims to support young people who might not engage with mainstream services. Through Play On, Leicester City in the Community provides individualised one-to-one mentoring alongside enrichment and social opportunities, offering early intervention support and helping young people build confidence, resilience, and emotional understanding.

In the Spring of 2025, Zak joined the programme, and from the outset, while energetic and talkative, it was clear he struggled with his emotions. Zak found it difficult to talk about his feelings and often tried to steer conversations away from himself, which often led to outbursts that affected his home and school life equally. Zak’s mentors focused on building trust, creating sessions that were fun, engaging, and centred around Zak’s interests, particularly football.

Zak made progress quickly, and by only his second mentoring session, was able to admit that he needed support: “I know I struggle to control my anger at times, and it does get me into a lot of trouble at school and at home. I think I need to work on it and get better.”

Over the following weeks, Zak’s engagement was exceptional. He attended 100 per cent of his mentoring sessions, one of the highest attendance rates across the cohort, and began to make real progress in his confidence and self awareness. A few weeks in, Leicester City in the Community heard from Zak’s classroom teacher: “I think he is much better now at letting me know how he is feeling and this has put us in a great position to further support him in lesson. It means we can address and solve issues before they occur because he is talking to us about it more now. I think he feels quite Jack the lad when you come to lesson to get him, he does really enjoy it.”

Beyond mentoring, Leicester City in the Community has provided Zak with a range of memorable enrichment experiences to further his personal growth and confidence levels. Zak has played football on the pitch at King Power Stadium, visited the LCFC Training Ground, and attended residential in Sherwood Forest, which was his first time away from home without his mum. Zak said: “I loved it, I want to do it again. All of my friends got so jealous when I told them about it and I do feel lucky to have been able to do it.”

Zak is doing great today, and continues to make progress at school and at home. His journey highlights the positive, lasting impact Leicester City in the Community can have when young people are given the right support, at the right time, by people who truly understand them.

To learn more about the Play on Programme, click here.

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