FC Battersea (FCB) are on a mission to put Battersea on the UK ‘grassroots map’ by playing winning football and supporting local youth. The club expertly mentor and coach talented players from local schools on a pathway through youth football and from this Easter they are able to open up free slots to attend their popular holiday camps at Falcon Park to the youth of Wandsworth.
The Club vision is to occupy the gap in the game between the ‘academy’ and ‘grassroots’ systems for local kids with football talent and commitment. Through football, mentoring and wider learning, FCB make players part of a family and coach them intensively to excel in football and in whatever else they choose – they develop exceptional players, and above all create good and principled young people.
In order to open up this opportunity to more young people in the community, not-for-profit Enable, along with Wandsworth Council will now be funding places to holiday camps that deliver a week of football fun to local boys and girls who face financial barriers.
The next of these camps is ProCamp6, happening this Easter holiday; Mon 4th April to Fri 8th April inc. Enable and Wandsworth Council are funding 10 places for young people aged 9-15 who will need to register by 1st April to attend. Enable and Wandsworth Council’s support means more scale, resource and local commitment to creating better opportunities for underrepresented groups, reinvesting in the community.
Building further on this exciting partnership will be the support the two organisations will lend the planned FCB Foundation starting in September. The Foundation will use Enable’s existing expertise to work with local estates, communities and groups through specific football programs. The foundation will help break the local ‘poverty cycle’ through positively engaging local 10-18 year old boys and girls, using sport to promote mental and physical fitness, softer skills like teamwork and dealing with success/failure and self-esteem. It also opens a pathway into connected learning around nutrition, mindset, life skills and citizenship, initially delivered via weekly sessions into local estates using experienced Foundation staff, as well as holiday camps, tournaments and playing opportunities with FCB and other local Clubs.
In relation to the new FCB Foundation, Jon De Maria, FCB Founder says “With the help of Enable and Wandsworth Council supporting our club and setting up our new Foundation, we now have the chance to create a lasting legacy for our local youth through football and mentoring. Sometimes kids need others to believe in them. The FCB Foundation will be the voice of our young people.”
Local support like that of Wandsworth Council and Enable’s is vital in helping further embed the club and the Foundation in Wandsworth, doing good for not only for our individuals but for the borough as a whole.
Enable CE Ian Mitchell says, “We are really happy at Enable to be able to support FC Battersea and their important work in this way, funding places for local kids who can’t always access them means better opportunities for them and for our community. We are excited to be part of the bigger picture by partnering with the FCB Foundation, reinvesting in our community in the immediate and long term.”
If you are FSM (Free School Meals) eligible you can apply for the holiday camp by visiting https://bit.ly/ProCamp6
