DEAF-FRIENDLY FOOTBALLERS

Young hearing-impaired football players picked up some top tips from Darren Fletcher and Carling Cup hero Ben Foster, when the Foundation and the National Deaf Children’s Society held a special training session at Carrington.

The visit was part of Premier League Creating Chances and involved young people from North West schools aged 8-18, who attend regular deaf-friendly football sessions as part of the Foundation’s disability programme. 

Darren Fletcher was impressed with the skills on show and picked up a few new skills himself, he said: "Ben and I had a good kick around with the kids today - they were a really good bunch and some of them look like they could be destined for big things! It was really interesting to see how the kids use sign language when they train and I even learnt how to sign my name.”

Last year, Sir Alex Ferguson signed up to the NCDS Deaf Friendly Football Club Pledge (DFFC) on behalf of Manchester United and the Foundation. The DFFC project is opening up football opportunities to deaf children across the UK.

Read more about this story / Learn more about deaf-friendly football

RIO KICKZ OUT VIOLENCE

Manchester United star Rio Ferdinand took time out last week to visit Old Trafford Sports Barn to promote the Foundation’s Kickz project.

Rio attended an event called 'Your Voice - Your Goals', which was hosted by Kickz and Trafford Council and aimed to tackle violence in Trafford and break down barriers between young people, the Police and other government agencies.  The event also showcased the positive services available to young people in the area.

Rio took part in a Q&A session with a selected panel of guests, which included local musician Fabian Wilks, community worker Joe Malaika, police officers from Manchester’s XCalibre Taskforce and Kickz project coordinator Lee Adams.

England international Rio told the 60 teenagers who were in attendance about his experiences growing up and advised them on achieving future goals. He said: “My advice to people here tonight is to decide what your goal in life is, and work towards it as you can achieve anything you want in life if you put your mind to it.”

The Foundation's Kickz project was set up in the autumn of 2006 to build relationships between key partners in the community and engage youngsters and encourage them to talk about their role in tackling crime.

Read the full story on mufoundation.org / Find out more about Kickz nationally