SaintsAbility celebrates returning to the pitch

By Saints Foundation Media time Mon 10 May Saints Foundation News
Photo by Saints Foundation Media

Our open access sessions for people with disabilities have finally resumed, with participants reunited after over a year of disruption.

We captured the moment that SaintsAbility’s 5 to 16 year old group got back out on the pitch, kicking a ball around together at long last.

We’ve put strong guidelines in place to ensure everyone stays safe at the sessions. Temperatures are checked, hands are sanitised, and all activity takes place out in the fresh air.

It’s been a challenging year for everyone, particularly for people with disabilities. Many of our participants have been shielding for their health, isolated from friends and loved ones for huge periods of time.

The wellbeing of people with disabilities has worsened since the pandemic, with almost half (47%) of disabled people reporting high anxiety.

office for national statistics

We hope that the return of SaintsAbility sessions will help our participants to re-engage with the community, exercising and socialising whilst continuing to pursue their passion for football.

One of our SaintsAbility parents, Tom Richardson, recognised the importance of the sessions for his son Jude. “There’s not a lot of extra-curricular stuff available and that’s been really hard,” he said. “Sometimes he can feel a bit socially isolated out of school, so this is just a brilliant way for him to do something which he loves, and just to meet other children as well.”

Read more about how Saints Foundation are getting back out into the community, supporting people of all ages as the country begins to emerge from the pandemic.

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