Target reached!
Our big plans: Have multiple sessions running every week in various areas of Portado...
Afrimeripean: bringing futsal to all
Craigavon, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, United Kingdom
Aim
We want to bring futsal to all people, by bringing all people to futsal - a mix of age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity and social class.
Who are we?
We are a multi-cultural futsal club in the Portadown/Craigavon area. In April 2021, we had about 25 men at the club. Right now we have over 250 - ranging from men, women and kids aged 3 to 16.
Community impact
Our club already has over 30 nationalities represented and we love to reach out to absolutely everyone. We would love to be able to do free camps and sessions for women/girls, kids, teenagers, men, over 50s, those with a disability and new mums, in various locations in Portadown and Craigavon. We want to bring futsal to all of these people, especially after the last few years of Covid where people have been isolated - we want to help people socialise again and enjoy physical activity with others.
Our club is based at South Lake Leisure Centre, although People's Park has also been one of our key locations too. One of the main barriers for people coming to these sessions is that they don't have transport or the money to pay for sessions.. We want to remove as many barriers as we can for people so that they can keep fit, meet new people, develop friendships and mix with others from various backgrounds. We want to bring everyone together through futsal, regardless of age, gender, race, religion or social status.
As well as bringing futsal to various areas to where people are, we also want to bring people to our main futsal hub at South Lake too. To do this, we would love to buy a minibus. This will really help in allowing more kids, teenagers and adults to attend the sessions from the local community, as well as various parts of Portadown. This will help them get active and develop their character in various ways. We hope to use the bus for various community events and to partner with other organisations when we can.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Our club has grown dramatically over the past year (900%). The cost of sessions and transport are the main barriers for allowing people to participate and keep participating. If we can bring futsal to various areas, this will allow a greater number of people to take part. If we are able to then bring people to our main sessions at South Lake, this will allow so many more people the opportunity to be part of our club, who otherwise would never have been able to get there. We have found that 80% of the teenagers that currently attend our sessions are paying for a public bus to get to/from training. Covid has had a detrimental effect on many people's wellbeing, financial status and friendships so by getting people active again, they will soon enjoy all the benefits that physical activity brings. We would love to reach new groups of people and since our last project was so successful, we feel we have a great model to use in involving more people in futsal and physical activity.
How we’ll spend the money raised
The money raised by our crowd from various donations will be used to purchase a used minibus, purchase any additional parts needed, get it back on the road in good working order and eventually to get it repainted in our club colours. The matched funding from Sport NI will be used to pay for venue hire, coaching costs and some kit.prizes, so that all barriers are removed for a whole variety of people to take part in our sessions, particularly over the summer months. Any money raised above what is needed will be put towards the club to reduce the cost for each member to train/play.
How you can play your part
There are three simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a donation towards our project. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards yourself. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out on our social media!
Sport Northern Ireland Project Re-Boot: Activate has provided £1,800 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 9th June 2022