Community Trust February Half-Term Football Camps

With February half-term now just around the corner, we are fast approaching our first holiday camps of 2024. Running throughout the week commencing 19th February, the camps take place at a variety of venues both in and around Luton. As well as Luton itself, we’ll be heading to Flitwick and Dunstable. Our camps are open to anyone in school years 1 to 6 regardless of ability and previous experience of the game. Our camps are all run by professional coaches and offer opportunities for young people to learn new skills and work on their technique in a positive, fun and safe environment.

Our day starts with warm up activities where we specifically focus on individual SAQ (Speed, Agility and Quickness) skills as well as ball mastery. We then focus on individual and team games where the participants learn to use their social skills to work effectively with their team mates. In the afternoon all participants take part in football tournaments and matches, with the main focus being having fun and not specifically winning games. To round off each day, we hold a mini awards ceremony to reward those who have displayed a positive attitude, shown good determination or excelled in their performance. You also never know who might drop in and say hello. In the past our camps have been visited by many of the first team squad, including Carlton Morris, Tom Lockyer and Alfie Doughty amongst others.

Community Trust Business Development Manager, Adam Woulds, said: "We take pride in the fact that our camps are open to all, whether you’ve been playing football for a few years or just taking your first steps in the game, everyone is welcome. We love creating a sense of community where everyone feels supported by our coaches, as well as their peers, and seeing new friendships form."

To see a full list of our venues please visit www.lutontowncommunity.co.uk For further information please contact us community@lutontown.co.uk or call 01582 561622.

Green Football Weekend

Last weekend was Green Football Weekend. This is an annual campaign where football clubs and their associated club community organisations are encouraged to educate young people on the positive impact their actions can make on the environment. We led school assemblies across Luton, engaging young people in a number of topics around environmental issues. The main focus for this year’s campaign was around food and the benefits to the environment of introducing more meat free meals into our diets. The health benefits were also discussed, did you know for example that Sir Stanley Matthews was a vegan? Famously, he was able to play top flight football into his 50’s.

The assemblies enabled pupils to learn about the simple changes everyone can make to have a positive impact on the planet. Pupils were to able see examples from the Premier League and other football clubs, and apply these inspiring stories to the topic of environmental sustainability. During our assemblies the children explored four key topics within environmental sustainability: transport, nature, energy and food. Pupils were also introduced to Planet League, an online portal where young people can score goals and gain points for the Hatters by taking part in a variety of green activities. These can be as simple as unplugging unused electrical devices or having a screen free evening, right through to making a journey by foot that would usually be done by car.

Tayor Brown, Premier League Primary Stars Lead and Senior Schools Officer, said: "With these interactive assemblies, we encourage our young people to get involved through deeper thinking and problem solving activities, as well as a Q&A section. The skills and knowledge learnt within these sessions will enable the children to go home and encourage parents and carers to research Planet League as well as analyse if they can implement any of the green strategies."

For more information about Green Football Weekend please visit www.greenfootballweekend.com.

For more information and to take part in Planet League please visit www.planetleague.co.uk.