CYP Now - Care-experienced young people gain life skills and confidence through football

Care-experienced young people are supported to run their own football team, honing their abilities and having fun while also learning important life skills to help prepare them for independent living.

Young people support each other on and off the pitch

Name St Christopher’s football team

Provider St Christopher’s Fellowship

For seven years, at St Christopher’s Fellowship, Friday evenings have been set aside for playing football. The attendees are a mixture of young people who currently live in our homes and services, and young people who have moved on or left care.

Young people lead on all aspects of the games – who we invite, when and where we play, and how we communicate – while us professionals listen and learn about what’s important to them.

From the start, one person explained: “Lots of places are running football but I don’t want football to turn into school. I want to just play football for football’s sake.” Another player said: “You don’t live our life, face our challenges, if you did you would see how sometimes we just need a bit of fun.”

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