Participants at two Derby County Community Trust sessions taking place at the Racecourse Playing Fields on Monday evening were surprised when first-team duo Ben Hamer and George Evans came to join in with the community-based football sessions.
Ability Counts and Wildcats are aimed at supporting youngsters into football. Ability Counts supports participants with mental and physical disabilities to take part in a dedicated session, with the overall goal of supporting them to get involved in mainstream football.
Wildcats is a session for young girls, aged 5-11, to get involved in football with the hope of them transitioning into grassroots teams and growing the female side of the game.
Stuart Asquith, Inclusion Officer at the Community Trust, said: “We’re really grateful for the players for turning out.
“When we’re trying to get youngsters into football who might be new to the game or have had bad past experiences down to their needs, it’s really important to keep them inspired.
“Our Ability Counts session in particular helps kids who might find mainstream training or games hard to take part in, there’s participants with autism or behavioural issues that we want to support and ensure they get the chance to play football regardless of their circumstances.”
The Derby County Community Trust run sessions to support individuals and communities to take part in sport, physical activity, health and education programmes. For more information please see derbycountycommunitytrust.com.