THE WALSALL FC Community Programme has teamed up with Centre Spot to promote their 'Shoot 4 Boots' campaign.
The aim of 'Shoot 4 Boots' is to collect football boots that are no longer required and redistribute them to disadvantaged youngsters within the local area.
Centre Spot organise donation dates throughout the season at various locations locally where you can come along and donate your unwanted boots. They will take boots in any condition, as long as they come as a pair!
Details of how to donate or obtain boots are available via www.centrespot.org.uk. All recipients are required to do is pay the postage to receive their boots. 'Shoot 4 Boots' coaching days are also arranged during the season where you can collect boots.
"It is known that one of the major reasons why young people from deprived backgrounds do not become involved in sport is the high costs of equipment," said Manny Abbeyquaye, Centre Spot founder and Walsall FC Centre of Excellence coach. "At Centre Spot we aim to reduce one of these costs to parents and young people via our 'Shoot 4 Boots' project.
"I came up with the idea for 'Shoot 4 Boots' after working as a community coach with deprived children in inner city areas of Birmingham and Sandwell. I was amazed at how many young children could not get involved in football due to a lack of boots; obviously a major factor in this was that they were from low income families who could not afford to buy boots and other necessary equipment.
"I realised that if there was a means of collecting unwanted or outgrown boots and redistributing them, it would benefit a lot of people and so 'Shoot 4 Boots' was born.
"We are delighted that Walsall FC has given us their backing and hope that it will raise the profile of this worthwhile initiative."
Rene Gilmartin, Mark Bradley and Sofiene Zaaboub are pictured proudly displaying their 'Shoot 4 Boots' t-shirts. "We were only too willing to get involved," said Gilmartin. "This is an excellent idea and hopefully plenty of local children will benefit from the scheme and it will encourage them to start playing football and taking an interest in the game.
"It could lead to them becoming Saddlers' supporters or even playing for the club one day."
Jonathan Hunter-Barrett of the Community Programme added: "People take having boots for granted. There are so many youngsters in the West Midlands area alone that will benefit from this and we are glad to be involved."
Centre Spot is a community-based organisation that reaches out to young people in the West Midlands region to offer them opportunities to participate in sporting activities, raise self-esteem, increase community participation, build harmony amongst community groups and provide a vehicle for involvement in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to young people in the area.
For further details, log-on to www.centrespot.org.uk...
