A pioneering sports scheme which has helped to cut crime across the capital has started up at the Sutton Life Centre.
Over 50 young people a week have been coming to the Kickz football sessions, run in partnership with Active Communities and Crystal Palace FC, which began in January following the success of the programme on Benhill Estate.
As well as playing football, young people take part in street dance workshops, play table tennis or use the Life Centre’s youth zone. Older teenagers can take an FA level coaching qualification and are offered help taking up volunteering opportunities. After only two months of sessions, the Life Centre group already has two budding coaches and several new volunteers for programmes run at the Life Centre or through Crystal Palace. Particularly talented youngsters could be offered trials at Crystal Palace FC academy.
Cllr Dave Callaghan, Executive Member for Children, Families and Youth Services on Sutton Council said: “The Kickz project is a great way for young sports fans to have fun, keep fit, and open up some new opportunities.”
Connor, 14, from Sutton said “I come down to have fun and get together with my friends; if Kickz wasn’t on I might just play video games in the evenings. It can be hard to find good places to go, but the Life Centre’s a safe place to play football and sometimes we use the other facilities, like the library or table tennis tables.”
For most participants Kickz is a fun way to play sport, make friends and fill time after school, but the scheme can have a deeper impact, with a recent report by the Laureus Sport Foundation finding that the programme has had a huge impact in cutting youth crime. One session, run by Arsenal FC in Islington, has seen youth crime fall by 66 per cent in the surrounding area, partly due to Kickz. Based on conservative estimates, this means that the scheme creates £7 value for every £1 invested by reducing costs to victims, police, prisons and courts.
In Sutton, Police Officers regularly go down to the sessions to make connections and break down barriers between young people and the police. Kickz run regular workshops on issues which affect young people, such as knife crime, healthy eating and CV workshops.
Kickz at the Life Centre takes place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5-7pm. The Benhill session, run in conjunction with Sutton Housing Partnership, happens at the Benhill Ball Park on Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings from 5-8pm, with boxing sessions on Fridays between 5-6pm. For more information, see www.activecommunities.org.uk|. To find out more about events at the Life Centre, go to www.suttonlifecentre.org|
Posted on Friday 1st April 2011