Kevin Davies drops in at Kickz
Wanderers Club Captain Kevin Davies recently spent time at the Kickz project to find out more about the project run by Bolton Wanderers Community Trust.
The player spent time observing the youngsters participating in a coaching session run by Kickz coaches Lee Thomas and Carl Pierce. These focussed on agility, passing and moving with the aim of improving all the players in a fun and enjoyable manner.
Following the coaching session the groups were split into teams with a small sided tournament taking place. Kevin joined in the games coaching and guiding the lads throughout with some good examples of shooting and passing.
Kevin spent time with the Kickz participants & staff, finding out how the project works, what they enjoy about it and its aims, as well as the impact it is having on the local community.
On his experience at Kickz Davies said “It’s been great to come down here tonight and learn more about the Kickz project. I have heard about the work that BWCT do from previous visits by Gretar and Ivan. The young people turn up in numbers to project and anything that the Community Trust can do to help to keep them off the street and out of bother is brilliant for the town of Bolton and the statistics really do speak for themselves.”
Since the project was launched in 2007, the number of all crimes reported to Greater Manchester Police during the days and time bands the sessions are run are down by 37.3%. The crime reports are taken from a half mile radius around the session location at Castle Hill. Select crimes including criminal damage, drugs and robbery are down 39.5% and GMP have reported a drop in anti social behaviour incidents of 22.7% across days and time bands the sessions run*.
Due to the programmes’ success at reaching out to young people and reducing the number of juvenile anti-social incidents, the project has been nationally refunded by the Premier League Charitable Fund until 2013 with matched funding from Bolton Be Safe and an Awards for all grant for the forthcoming year.
Ben Laycock Kickz project Coordinator said of the visit “To get Kevin Davies, visiting Kickz is fantastic. Kevin has come to the project and actively joined in matches with the young people, asked questions showing a great interest in the Kickz project. The lads have had a chance to play on the same pitch as the Bolton Wanderers captain, which is something they will be able to have forever. This type of support by the club and the players is vitally important to us to enable us to raise the profile of our Kickz project and the Community Trust charity as a whole”.
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*Please note the youth crime data contained in this item should be treated with caution. It cannot be reliably asserted whether or not the Kickz Schemes have had any direct effect on levels of youth crime in the area since its implementation. You should draw your own conclusions from the data provided in this report.
Bolton Wanderers Kickz project welcomed Ivan Klasnic and Gretar Steinsson to the Castle Hill Kickz project for them see the project in operation. The Kickz project has been delivered in the local area for three years by Bolton Wanderers Community Trust.
During their time at Castle Hill, which is based in the Tonge Moor area of Bolton, Ivan and Gretar took part in a theory based classroom session which is being delivered to a group of 12-18 year-olds to help them achieve their FA Junior Football Organisers Award. The ten males who are working towards this Kickz funded qualification have been handpicked due to good attendance and leadership qualities.
Both of the Wanderers players helped the group plan a practical coaching session to prepare them for their final assessment and passed on advice, training tips and answered questions from the young males to help them pass the six-week course.
The young people have since completed their course and all ten have passed and gained their Junior Football Organiser certificate. It’s is hoped that they will use their new found skills to assist in the coaching sessions and develop before being ready to continue their coaching development by taking the FA level 1 at a later stage.
Gretar who has attended the project before said “Tonight was my second visit to the Kickz project since I joined Bolton and it was really pleasing for me to see all the improvements that have been put in place since my last visit and the statistics show that these projects that the club are delivering in the local community are really worthwhile”
After the players had assisted the participants in their session they went outside to the pitches where they signed Photo’s, Shirts and boots as well as posing for pictures with all the young participants.
Ben Laycock Kickz coordinator said “The players coming down to Kickz is a great experience for both the young people and staff and we are thankful to them for their time. The lads studying the JFO have worked really hard and to have the assistance of Premiership players is fantastic. Everyone had a chance to get an autograph and the whole night had a buzz about it”