2 weeks Ago
Canvey Island have set their sights on making good use of precious grant funding by expanding their Soccability scheme. The Pitching In Isthmian League outfit have run the scheme - designed to provide free football sessions for all children and young adults with additional needs, disabilities and/or live with disadvantages - for a number of years and in that time it has only gone from strength to strength. Canvey Island were recently successful in receiving extra funding from league sponsors Pitching In’s Trident Community Foundation, which offers money to clubs at Step 3 and 4 of the non-league pyramid for community, non-capital projects.
And Gulls club director Nicholas Wright revealed that the new money will allow the club to expand their current offering and further ensure everyone can enjoy the beautiful game . “It was started in 2018 by our chairman John Batch who realised there were no footballing facilities for people with physical disabilities and learning issues so we set it up back then, said Wright. “We now have a group of over 20 mixed, both girls and boys, who play football on Saturday mornings and also play in a league with similar Soccability teams.
“This is our third grant and we're extremely grateful. What we've used this money for previously is for a professional coach to run the training sessions and he also helps to mentor some of them. “During Covid for example, they couldn't play football together, it was really affecting their mental health so being able to speak to someone over the phone during the week made a difference during those difficult times in lockdown.
“This year the money is going to cover the coaching and pitchside costs this coming season and we also use it to buy equipment and items for people in the team. For example, we don’t charge them any subs, they don’t pay any money towards people and we buy all their kit, clothing and equipment.” The Trident Community Foundation has awarded more than £500,000 to clubs since its inception in 2020, with beneficiaries using the money to support all kinds of projects such as walking football, disability football, and women’s and girls’ football programmes.
For Canvey Island, the project has helped embed the club within the heart of the local community, with local MP Rebecca Harris even attending fixtures in support of the project. Wright added: “Money in grassroots football has diminished over the last few years and it cost us around £5,000 to £6,000 a year to find our Soccability teams with everything they need. “It’s an important project and we’ve had backing from our local MP Rebecca Harris, who came to a fun day we organised for them last year.
“With this recent grant, we get 4,500 toward it. Without the grant we wouldn’t be able to afford to run the level of support we do for the people involved. It’s absolutely vital.
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