Richard Luscombe A week of activity complimented regular sessions to celebrate the Premier League’s flagship community engagement programme.
February saw a landmark achievement for the Premier League as clubs across the country celebrated 15 years of its flagship community programme PL Kicks. Along with our regular sessions, the Trust had an action-packed week of activities to recognise the wonderful impact the programme has on our communities.
The Trust are proud to have delivered PL Kicks since 2008, delivering nearly 8,000 hours of sessions to 3,000 young people, and providing an inclusive, fun, safe, and enjoyable atmosphere to become fit and active, make friends and learn life skills.
The week of celebrations began with a 2-day multi-sport festival in Keyham, bringing young people in the community together in partnership with our friends at the Wolseley Trust, Plymouth Together, the Co-op, and the Neighbourhood Watch Network.
36 young people enjoyed team sports including football, basketball, relays and dance challenges and even got chance to design their own team badge and kit. There was a special visit from Keyham Community Policing Team who got involved in the sport.
The Premier League then named our very own Mia Endacott as their ‘Local Legend’ for Plymouth for her dedication and for inspiring others, having developed as a Kicks participant of 5 years. Mia is a huge success of the Trust and our girl’s player pathway and currently plays for the Argyle Academy and has had the honour of a call up for the England Talent Pathway having represented England Under 15’s.
This was followed by a football tournament in partnership with Plymouth Community Homes and the Efford Community Network which saw 50 young people enjoy a day of football.
The week culminated with a trip for 8 girls and 8 boys from our Kicks football teams to our friends at Swindon Town FC and the Swindon Foundation. 13 clubs came together for a day of football tournaments and workshops.
The Kicks programme started with four pilot projects. Thanks to another three-year funding commitment from the Premier League, the programme has grown so that 90 Premier League, EFL and National League clubs will deliver sport and education sessions at over 700 venues in local communities where projects are needed most.
Argyle Community Trust Inclusion Officer Alice Young adds: “We are so proud to deliver PL Kicks to our Plymouth communities, using the power of One Argyle to bring young people together and help them increase their confidence, raise their ambition and achieving their potential.
The programme allows us to break barriers to participation and ensure everyone is included, for positive long-term impact.
We are so proud of Mia who is a true inspiration to others. We have followed her journey and she deserves all of the praise and future success for her attitude, hard work and dedication.”
You can turn up and play at the following Kicks sessions run by the Argyle Community Trust:
