For the past few months, 16 adult service users with learning difficulties have taken part in weekly Walking Football sessions over a two hour period to improve their fitness levels and football skills.
A specialist sports coach oversees the game and combined with the walking football is speech therapy to improve the conversation and language skills of the group. The confidence from the Walking Football and the scoring of goals generate a high degree of confidence, organisers believe, which transmits itself into improved speech.
Sessions take place in Irlam and Cadishead Leisure Centre next to Princes Park Garden Centre, which initiated the project, with funding from CVS and the Hamilton Davies Trust, and now it's all moving forward with the team having created its own football shirt, roughly based on Salford City FC colours. The name of each player together with their favourite number is on the back of the tops, which were presented this week by the team's supporters.
"This project has been and is an amazing success" Alec McFadden, Chair of the Princes Park Garden Centre "All of our service users love their weekly football, the improvement in their fitness levels and football skills and of course their goal scoring achievements. But most of all, the massive improvement in their confidence and improvement in their speech is allowing greater communication and improving their quality of life.
"We hope very much to continue the project after the initial funding runs out in July, and gain further funding so that we can bring in more adults with disabilities" he adds "We believe that football can make our service users both fitter and happy and improve their quality of life by improving their ability to speak better and communicate."
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