Sport Northern Ireland Project Re-Boot: Activate has provided £5,000 of match funding
"Team Talk" Physical & Mental Health Project
Strabane, Derry and Strabane, United Kingdom
Aim
A new innovative project focused on giving physical and mental health issues 'the red card' among teenage boys within our teams
Who are we?
We are a voluntary led cross community constituted football organisation primarily organising teams for the Super Cup competition each year. We are much more than just that though! We are led by a Committee of volunteers from across Tyrone. Our aims and objectives are to support young people across the county of Tyrone by providing opportunities to play football for their County, and also provide regular social opportunities, opportunities to mix with others from different backgrounds & traditions (cross community), provide personal development opportunities, volunteering opportunities, opportunities to progress into future leadership roles, and opportunities to take part in health & wellbeing initiatives.
As well as young people, we also provide opportunities for adults and older people through volunteer coaching and administration opportunities. We provide opportunities for to enhance skills and gain new qualifications through coaching awards, as well as provide opportunities to take on leadership roles within the Committee.
Community impact
To ensure a wider impact of our organisation going forward, a major priority for us is to provide initiatives and resources that improve opportunities for young people in Tyrone, for better physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
It is our responsibility therefore going forward (and a reason we are Crowdfunding), to ensure the following:
- Offer coaching and competitive opportunities in football
- Promote football and sport as a positive outlet across the County
- Ensure a duty of care to all those involved with County Tyrone Super Cup
- Ensure we are inclusive and fair for all.
Therefore, a major part of our new strategy moving into 2023 (as agreed at our November 2022 AGM), is to develop new innovative and creative initiatives that are much more than just football!
Because, we have direct access to teenage boys predominately through our yearly football activity, we are in a good position to deliver important programmes and initiatives for young people that's much more than just football (for example, important programmes effecting young people today such as mental health, social media safety & awareness, screen time, healthy eating, drugs/alcohol awareness to name just a few).
A priority going forward for our organisation is to enhance our wider community impact, for example our volunteer Committee are working hard to ensure we can develop community collaboration and partnerships across Tyrone. Our Committee is made up of representatives from volunteer Clubs across Tyrone and we are working hard to develop strong links with Youth Sport Omagh, Mid Ulster Sport Arena in Cookstown and Melvin Sports Complex in Strabane. This ensures that we reach as many young people as possible through our programmes, and ensures we can reach as many young people as possible through our sporting, physical and mental wellbeing programmes moving forward in 2023 (which is new, innovative and creative as well as "over and above" our usual footballing programmes as noted).
Covid19 Issues we Faced
Our fundraising income declined drastically, because of lack of sponsors, cancelled events, and no opportunities to raise much needed funds.
Since returning after a long Covid19 lockdown, we found out very quickly that the boys had lost a lot of fitness because of being stuck in their homes for a long time with no opportunities to exercise, they lacked social skills because of no opportunities to mix with their peers for over 2 years, as well as their technical skills had declined quite drastically because of no quality coaching for a long time during the pandemic.
More importantly though, we know these issues are affecting teenage boys coming out of Covid19, because they told us directly when we asked them directly in 2022 what they would like to see that's over and above their usual football activity going forward, and to combat the issues of Covid19 in which they faced. When we spoke to the boys about the challenges they face many told us that they are sometimes anxious, worries at school, growing up, online pressures, anxiety and excessive worry about everyday matters, worrying about being judged on the pitch, worrying about their futures as footballers and careers, problems at home, social phobias, image, self-consciousness and insecurity as well as depression are all issues they face.
Why are we crowdfunding?
Considering the Covid19 challenges, and challenges faced by our beneficiaries (predominately teenage boys), we feel it is important that we can deliver a suite of programmes in 2023 that's over and above just standard football initiatives.
We are Crowdfunding therefore to deliver our "Team Talk" Physical & Mental Health Project from March to June 2023, and to build the project into our football programmes for years to come (which will be the long term legacy of this Crowdfunding and the money we can raise).
Crowdfunding will enable us to deliver the following new innovative programmes into our wider football programme from March:
- Workshop(s) on Mental and Emotional Wellbeing as part of our wider football coaching programme- to include wellbeing physical exercises such as yoga, stretching, and meditation, as well as breathing exercises and information sessions on improved mental and emotional wellbeing through exercise.
- Workshop on how exercise can improve mental wellbeing.
Young people will be provided the opportunity to talk about physical and mental health issues affecting them, and any additional / external support they would require. Useful information will be provided regarding further help and wider initiatives as a follow on from the workshop once concluded.
- Workshop(s) on the importance of healthy eating to general physical and mental wellbeing as well as on high performance in sport.
- Workshop(s) on drugs & alcohol awareness, as well as the negative effects on drugs/alcohol on performance.
If we can fundraise to deliver this over 16 weeks then it very much will have a huge positive impact on teenage boys and our volunteer coaches.
How we’ll spend the money raised
Crowdfunding will enable us to cover additional facility hire for our new innovative programmes over 16 weeks (March, April, May, June).
Crowdfunding will enable us to bring in specialist support to deliver the workshops.
Crowdfunding will enable us to advertise & promote the new innovative programme
Crowdfunding will enable us to purchase additional equipment for the physical exercises aspects of the programme such as yoga mats, stretching bands, and mats for meditation.
Crowdfunding will enable us to support more volunteers to gain IFA qualifications and upskill.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. 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. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!
This project successfully funded on 31st March 2023