A football project to engage and improve health outcomes for deaf pupils in Aberdeen has been hailed a success.
Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust has been running GoFitba for the past 12 weeks with the Aberdeen School for the Deaf. GoFitba is a project funded by the Scottish Football Partnership.
The programme is aimed at primary school children and provides an hour of football activity followed by an hour of health and wellbeing workshops and a healthy meal.
Each organisation that receives funding for the project can choose which school they deliver in and AFCCT chose the Aberdeen School for the Deaf as there were no football sessions or after school clubs running for the 13 pupils who attend.
10 of the pupils decided to sign up and have attended for the past 12 weeks. The group has been to an AFC match, for some of whom it was their first, and will attend another on the 16th of February vs. St Mirren. They also tried new foods over the course of the programme from tuna and sweetcorn to salami.
The pupils also made a ‘Good Luck,’ video for Aberdeen when they reached the League Cup Final in November 2018. It was viewed over 7,500 times on twitter and over 4,000 times on Facebook. You can view the video at: https://www.facebook.com/AberdeenFCCommunityTrust/videos/559882927784196/
Aberdeen FC Community Trust and Scottish Disability Sport is looking to further develop a relationship with the school, which has a growing need for after-school provision, after the amazing feedback received from pupils and staff.
If you, or someone you know, lives with a physical, sensory or intellectual impairment and would like to get more involved in sport, please get in touch with Alison Shaw (Regional Manager for Scottish Disability Sport) on 07828 744 848 or alison.shaw@scottishdisabilitysport.com.
By Ross McNeil and Alison Shaw