Team Talk is a 10 week football project that The Bevy has joined forces with, giving over 35s a chance to get back into playing football with the help of professional coaches. The ultimate aim will be to start a Bevy Vets team which can then play other teams from around the city.
The project is being delivered by VYD, a CIC that aims to improve lives through football, and led by a professional academy football coach and sports scientist. It’s aimed at communities with health and social isolation issues and a similar project has been previously run in Whitehawk with the Crew Club, which you can read about here.
After the first session on Thursday 10th September, project manager Gary Pleece said " We want to help create a new team and identity for the Bevy with regulars taking part in fun - and testing! - physical activity. We are measuring their fitness levels at the outset (last night’s session) and will revisit these at the end of the 10 weeks to measure their progress in terms of how fitness levels have improved. We also want a team to spin out of the project at the end so there is a continuation of what’s been achieved and they can play matches vs other local sides.
"Football is so good for people in many ways; it’s accessible to all, gets them fit and active, helps mental health issues and builds a community, thus also tackling social isolation. Our goals are to set this team up and running with the structure and programme and then this becomes self managed in the future, with support from us. Other spin outs could include the benefits of eating a healthy ‘footballer’s diet’ so that the players' performance on the pitch can be enhanced. Eat and train like a pro, basically!"
And The Bevy's Iain Chambers, who took part in the training, said "The Bevy Pub is always keen to work with like-minded partners like VYD CIC to make life better for local people. This programme will hopefully see the participants improve their fitness and wellbeing, but best of all it’s fun. Well except for the 12 minute run at the beginning. That was more like torture.
"Last night saw several members of the Bevy’s darts teams getting back together to play football. Covid has halted all darts leagues and the lads have been missing meeting up and having a laugh. A well earned drink in the Bevy afterwards was a bonus, and is an important part of schemes like this."
We wish all the participants the best of luck getting into shape and improving their football skills and look forward to hearing more about The Bevy Vets team soon.
