Celebrating the end of another successful season off the pitch and in the community, the Aston Villa Foundation are reflecting on over 20 player visits from across our men’s, women’s and Academy teams.
Engagement from players helps bring Foundation participants closer to the club, while also allowing fans to see the positive work done by the Foundation and the impact of the programmes in place.
In April, Amadou Onana met with coaches and players from the Foundation, Birmingham Impact FC, Green Lane Masjid FC and Birmingham Youth Sports Academy, speaking with them about the impact the Everybody’s Game project has had on their teams. Onana even took on the role of goalkeeper for a light 2 v 1 training exercise.
GLM FC coach Hassan shared with the midfielder: "We started working on the Everybody’s Game project about seven months ago and the opportunities it has given us are amazing. None of our players had ever been to a football stadium before and getting to play at venues such as the (Aston Villa) Inner-City Academy is massive for them.”
Recently making her WSL debut, Rachel Maltby met with female coaches and players from Dream Chasers FC and Wyrley Juniors FC. She discussed her experiences growing up playing for male teams and how great it is for the girls to have opportunities to grow as players and coaches as part of the project.
Everybody's Game is funded through the Premier League Charitable Fund, supported by the Premier League, Professional Footballer’s Association (PFA) and Islamic Relief. The initiative provides inclusive opportunities for British South Asian communities and Women and Girls to get involved across mainstream football, either as players, volunteers, coaches or referees.
Having moved to England from Iraq in 2022, 14-year-old Shayan was referred to the Foundation’s Teamwork Plus programme by his school and offered 12 weeks of free one-to-one wellbeing sessions.
As part of our community feature on BBC’s Match of the Day, Jacob Ramsey surprised Shayan and his friends at their Friday night Premier League Kicks football session. The Villa midfielder spoke to him about his mentoring with Wellbeing Practitioner Sean, as well as the challenges and barriers he has faced and overcome since moving to England.
Jacob has also been named by the Foundation as this season’s PFA Community Champion. To read more, click here.
Students from Stockland Green School, who engage through the Premier League Inspires programme, entered the Lion’s Den to pitch their concepts around this year’s Challenge theme ‘This Is Everyone’s Game - Gender Equality'.
Having been selected by a panel as the winning group to represent Villa in the finals at Wembley Stadium, the girls were invited to Bodymoor Heath and met with players from the Women’s team to sign their pledge encouraging more girls into the game.
Premier League Inspires is a personal development programme, funded by the Premier League and the PFA through the Premier League Charitable Fund. The programme uses the power of football to inspire young people aged 11-18 to develop the personal skills and positive attitudes needed to succeed in life.
Earlier in the season, Ability Counts players welcomed six of the club's Under-18 and Under-21 goalkeepers for a coaching session at the Inner City Academy, sharing an insight into their training and taking part in a penalty shoot-out.
During February half-term, we were also joined by TJ Carroll and Keilan Quinn for an afternoon of Q&As and small-sided games, with Brad Burrowes and Aidan Borland swapping the pitch for the dugout, leading teams in a mini tournament at our Sutton Coldfield Holiday Soccer Schools in April.
The Aston Villa Foundation
