Social Inclusion

Disability Programme

Aston Villa Football Club has the largest club based disability programme in the Midlands. There are several key aspects to the programme.

The "Special Needs Ability Counts" programme helps identify and develop talented footballers, providing quality coaching and increasing participation

The club cater for all impairment groups with junior and senior sections. Subsequently, players will participate in the regional Ability Counts Leagues.

Villa Vocations

This project enables 36 physically disabled students aged 16-19 to spend four full-time days a week studying the “Aston Villa Disability Life Skills Programme”.

This involves:

two days class based learning
one day experiential learning at Aston Villa
one day community/work based learning experiences

The course is accredited, as the young people have the chance to gain the following qualifications (in conjunction with ASDAN):

Certificate of Life Skills
Employability Award/Workright
Disability and Sports Awareness Award

The disability programme also includes the following:

Cerebral palsy days
Special needs cup
Special needs fun days
Held at Villa Park in the Academy building
Special needs primary school league
Special needs secondary school league
Wheelchair football - Activities include the club's very own electric wheelchair side

Numbers

Over 9,400 children reached annually (2009 AVFC FITC audit)

Ice Gym

As part of the city's "Be Active" campaign, there are 6 dedicated free-of-charge children's gyms located across the city, with a dedicated Ice Gym located directly in the stadium at Villa Park. The Ice gym can be used by children ages 8-16 and includes the best in physical exercise equipment dedicated for use by children and teens.

A new addition to the gym is a state of the art 8 person dance studio and machine to encourage an alternative means of activity, following the popularity of many dance related TV programmes. In addition, the gym caters for family and female only activity sessions to meet the needs of the local South Asian community.

The gym now has over 500 members, making it the largest youth gym in terms of participation in the entire West Midlands.

Premier League Creating Chances