Raynes Park Vale supporting the #FBB2020 challenge
In our last edition, we focused on Raynes Park Vale and their place in the local community. We are now focusing on Raynes Park Vale’s work with charities.
In particular, supporting Football Beyond Borders (FBB) in their #FBB2020 challenge to raise £20,000 to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Football Beyond Borders
FBB uses the power of football to educate and inspire young people across the UK. They exist to change the lives of young people as there are thousands of students who are passionate about football but disengaged at school. They work with a range of young people who love football, but face barriers to their learning.
The FBB Schools programme is a long term intervention delivered in partnership with secondary schools across London, Kent, Essex and the North West of England. The programme is delivered to groups of up to 16 students, beginning in Year 8. The programme combines weekly two-hour sessions divided between one hour in the classroom and one hour on the football pitch alongside therapeutic interventions and half-termly reward visits.
The #FBB2020 Challenge
FBB is encouraging everyone to get active and cover 20,000 km. This challenge is between now and Sunday 12th July 2020. The day that would have marked the now postponed Euro2020 final. They want to collectively raise £20,000 to support the FBB Virtual School. These donations will go to providing equipment such as pens, pencils and paintbrushes to participants, purchasing a laptop to support young people who cannot access the internet at home or create new digital resources to help young people engage in education. We believe this is a great cause and encourage you to support young people across the UK through donating at Just Giving.
Why is the FBB2020 challenge needed?
During the Covid-19 pandemic, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are much more at risk. The Guardian recently reported that “a decade of progress†to narrow the attainment gap between them and their classmates is now at risk. This issue is compounded by the reality that many disadvantaged young people don’t have access to outdoor spaces. At home, they struggle to play and exercise for the recommended 60 minutes per day. Together, these challenges threaten teenage physical and mental health.
However, during this period large swathes of the British population have been engaging in more physical activity. FBB want to build on this and encourage even more people to get active. Their Virtual School provides weekly academic coaching, 1-to-1 therapeutic support and inspiring creative projects for over 350 young people. It has now been running successfully for almost two months. Young people in FBB will not be returning to a normal school routine until September at the earliest. They want to continue providing this vital support over the summer.
Why did Raynes Park Vale choose to support FBB?
As a football club embedded in the local community we wanted to increase our impact. We thought the best way to do that would be linking up with an organisation that share our passions. Therefore, we choose FBB as we believe they can have a real impact on the local community through football.
We believe that football can be used to improve young people’s lives. We currently run 17 youth teams and provide a platform for every child in the Raynes Park area to stay active. Many people are passionate about football and we support FBB in harnessing this to improve young people’s lives.
FBB has a large presence in London and we wanted to use our influence in the local community to promote their great work. They have continued to work effectively during COVID-19 and we believe this fundraising is key to helping them continue. They have provided a platform to support young people and this has continued during COVID-19. Young people in FBB will not be returning to school until September and we want to help FBB fundraise to support these young people throughout the summer.
Raynes Park Vale preparing for pre-season with SharedGoals
With the lads returning to pre-season training this week it worked out as perfect preparation for the #FB2020 challenge. They were well prepared with pre-season testing on Thursday with SharedGoals to assess the players after the last fixture being in February.
The testing consisted of a mixture of speed, agility and power-related football drills. SharedGoals teamed up with the strength and conditioning coach at Crystal Palace to provide a unique programme for the team. The team went through numerous tests including a 1500m shuttle run, 30m sprint, standing jump and 5-0-5 test.
There were a number of stand-out performers including Boe Fowler, Archie Harland-Goddard and Bertie Marti-Pique in the 1500m and Danny Alderton and Henri Mkinsi in the standing jump.
The whole squad now have a set of baseline figures for the beginning of pre-season. Each player has their own individual statistics that they will look to build on throughout pre-season. We have the next round of tests in 4 weeks time with the final tests coming at the end of pre-season. We’ll continue to keep you updated on the journey as the team prepares for the season.
Raynes Park Vale’s run to support #FBB2020 challenge
As a club, we wanted to do our part to support FBB. With pre-season just around the corner, our First Team got together to help FBB reach 20,000km by what would have been the Euro 2020 final. With the final being at Wembley, we thought about running from Raynes Park Vale to Wembley Stadium.
However, we decided to host it at Grand Drive combining it with a community day to help improve the club facilities. The first team, committee and management worked together to renovate the clubhouse, maintain the pitch and surrounding areas before finishing the day with a run to support FBB’s 2020 challenge. Despite the rigours of pre-season testing, the First Team were back out again to support #FBB2020 challenge.
Support the #FBB2020 Challenge
I hope we have inspired you to support FBB and don’t forget to get active and donate to their JustGiving page to support the FBB Virtual school so that they can support young people throughout the UK.
