Coops Residents play Premiership football

On the 19^th November 2007 six young people from Coops Foyer took part in a 6 a side football game, playing against service users from Rainer (an outreach organization for 16-25 year olds) at the JJB soccer dome.

These young people had the opportunity to play along side 2 Wigan Athletic Football Club players, Titus Bramble and Fitz Hall. To make the event even more exciting, Match of the Day was filming the whole game. The game was featured on Match of the Day on Sunday 25^th November, where the silky skills of Coops Foyer players dazzled on the screen!

All young people played brilliantly, it was such a close match, with end to end action. The atmosphere was tense, Coops scored then Rainer scored. The score was practically even all through the whole match then unfortunately towards the end Rainer scored, disaster struck, and in the final minute Rainer managed to tuck another one away. Final score 8 – 6 to Rainer.

There were no hard feelings though; everyone was just excited to play with 2 top professionals. (Not that they managed to score for us though).

Later that afternoon, everyone had the opportunity to ask both Titus and Fitz some questions; they came back to the foyer with us, and were more than willing to answer. Some young people were also lucky enough to win signed prizes including shirts and footballs.

Overall it was a successful and enjoyable day, thank you to everyone who took part.

Quotes from Residents who took part:

“It was really enjoyable, everyone had a laugh playing with experienced players” Daryl Fleming

“It was brilliant because we met other people and famous people” Stuart Blyth

“I learnt lots of things about Titus Bramble and Fitz Hall, like where they live and what got them into football” Adam McMahon

Tackling Skills is a project that gives young people the chance to work with BBC sports journalists to help develop their literacy and communication skills by using sport to inspire and motivate them.

Two aspiring journalists from the scheme describe their experiences of the Your Game event in Liverpool. Here is their report from the BBC Sport website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/your_game/6653833.stm

Kahla Scott-Marsden Tackling Skills reporter

In all honesty, a day like this is hard to explain. It was amazing; the acts, the football, the people - it was memorable.

I've learned a lot about people - about their background, talents and skills.

For instance, take one of the acts on show Mr Silky Skills.

His tricks were unbelievable, he juggled, flipped and skipped while the ball was balanced on his leg. You name it, he did it with a ball!

It was very entertaining watching acts perform on stage. One of the acts was a guy named Kof and the only word I can use to describe him is "talented".

Two Muslim Youth players celebrate a remarkable victory

He sang, rapped and got the crowd in the palm of his hand.

There were also stalls around the event offering different things such as football commentary, DJing and even advice on sexual health.

I spoke to Ann-Marie Taylor, who was working on that particular stall and she told me how this event was good at getting young people off the streets and helping them socialise with others.

There were some amazing characters, but the one who stood out the most was Siddi Majubah, who coached the Dream Team and United Colours of Kensington.

Siddi did a great street dance on stage - but the real reason he was there was to ensure people forgot about their differences and came together to enjoy an amazing day out.

It's not just about football, it's about taking part and enjoying the experience together.

Darren Brown Tackling Skills reporter

Your Game is about one word - fun. It's a great idea to bring people together like this, different ethnic backgrounds joking around together.

Casm's graffiti masterpiece was a sight to behold

Mix in live local entertainment from DJs and girl bands, information about sexual health and fighting racism in football, impressive artwork from a graffiti artist called Casm and you're halfway there.

After the live acts had finished it was time for the knockout rounds of the football to get underway.

All the teams I had spoken to said they all thought the tournament was a great idea; to bring people together like and have a kickabout - albeit a bit of friendly competition!

This weekend I had the privilege to go to Radio 1’s festival in Preston and from start to finish it was an amazing day out. I’ve not had that much fun in months! I saw some amazing live acts like Dizzie Rascal, Bloc Party, Klaxons, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, and Maximo Park. I’d have to say that my favourite band was Bloc Party as the crowd went wild and we were right near the front.

It was how a festival is supposed to be: live music, loads of tents and loads of people just having a good time. I thought it was a good idea for residents from the three different Foyers to go together as they were all very nice people and the other staff members were funny and easy to get on with.

There was one event of the day when I was in the One Life tent where people all got together and just spread the love by dancing around with people you didn’t know. Then we all got in a line and did the cancan. There was also something called the Love Bomb in which people would write down a love message and then place it inside the Love Bomb. When it exploded we had to go round and pass a message on to spread the love.

My final thoughts on the day: it was the best day out I’ve had in a long time for one reason only – it was a festival and you cannot beat a festival environment. People are united, free to do what they want (well to a degree) and people are so open, you go up to random strangers and talk to them and they’re not bothered. If you did that in the streets they’d think you’re a weirdo.

On June 1st, 6 Residents of Coops Foyer and 4 Staff members will be going to Paris, France, for the anniversary of ‘The Battle Of The Somme’, to pay respects to those who died during this battle in the first World War.

Prior to our visit we have all researched into the people who worked in Coops Factory - before it became a Foyer - and went into the army to fight for us but tragically died.

We have been to the History Shop in Wigan to research about the men’s lives: from where they use to live, to how many children they had, or whether they were married or not. Also, we didn’t just research into their lives but their deaths too - like how old they were and what year they died.

We wrote to specific people, like residential homes, to see if anyone who lives there knew anything that could help us in our research, unfortunately they couldn’t.

To prepare us for the trip to France, we have all been on a team building day, rock climbing and abseiling, to help us to work as a team and support each other. It was quite a fun day; I enjoyed it, and would love to do it again.

Whilst in France, we will be visiting the graveyards of those who died in WWI, to pay respects and, also, to see how it differs from normal graveyards and those here in England.

This trip to me is going to be educational and fun.

On the day of the team building exercise I went down stairs and met up with the group. The group was me, Ste P, Rob, Holly and Louise. Rob, Ste and myself drove in Ste H’s car and got lost twice on the way. When we got there I saw a strange long haired man and said to myself, ‘I’m not climbing with that guy’. The group grabbed the food while I spoke to Ste about my experience in rock climbing and abseiling with Splash and Venture Trust and I told him about the nine days I did in Scotland. Ste, the instructor, unpacked his van and we all picked a bag. I carried the heaviest and Ste Hill carried the lightest. We walked down a path for about ten minutes until we got to the rock face, it wasn’t that big but good enough to climb. We waited about 15 minutes while Ste the instructor tied the ropes to the top, he threw the ropes down and asked me to dangle on them. They felt safe to me and then he explained to every one how to put the harnesses on carefully. If there is a circle it’s not on right, as it has to look like a letter C and you should always ask a friend to check too. Ste the instructor told us about ‘b laying’. Myself, Rob and Louise were holding Ste Hill while he climbed up the rock face and abseiled down (again I think he was showing off a little because he has a lot of experience). Ste P was belaying Holly as she went up the wall and she did very well. Finally, I got on the wall it took me about ten seconds to get to the top I looked down and got a little nervous. I started to abseil down at slow pace, got to the bottom and unhooked the rope from my harness.

We went up the same wall again then tried another wall that was a little bit harder. Got myself strapped to the wall and Ste P was belaying me. The wall was quite fun because it had a bit of an overhang but I just dodged it. I came down and started to belay Ste P, he had no trouble climbing but I felt that he was a bit nervous coming down because I had hold of him and he didn’t trust me, but I told him its ok just lean back and walk down slowly. Ste Hill was belaying little Rob but he only got about half way and couldn’t climb any further. Louise had a climb but only got one foot off the ground, she was afraid of heights. We all sat down and had some lunch, spoke to Ste the instructor and asked about front face abseiling. He said we couldn’t do it but he is going to put up a rope for the abseiling only. I had a ham and cheese sandwich followed by crisps and chocolate. Ste was taking some pictures so I decided to pose for the camera. I started to belay Ste H and was frightened to death because he was a lot heavier than me and I thought if he falls I’d be going up the wall instead but he didn’t. Ste H was belaying me on the same wall, I started to climb and Ste shouted, ‘Try the overhang’. I just dodged it but then I thought ok lets have a go. It was hard but I did it. Eventually I got fed up of the walls and went up top to do a bit of abseiling. Ste H went first, he got himself tied up to the ropes and started to go down. I think he went too fast for the instructor because the rope got stuck and everything stopped. The instructor was tugging on the rope to make it loose again, Ste must have been in some pain, eventually the rope came loose and Ste got off.

Ste walked around the hill and back up to the ropes where myself and Ste P were. He passed me the gloves because it was my turn, the instructor put the safety rope on my harness and said, ‘Walk to the edge then lean back’. It was easier said than done; I got to the edge and lent back and slowly loosened the rope in my hand and started to walk down the wall. I got about three feet from the ground so I tried jumping of the wall to do a fast abseil, got to the ground and unhooked my rope. I walked around and up the hill again to watch Ste P have a go, he got tied up and looked scared. He hung over the edge and started to walk down; I looked down and saw his legs shaking. I said, ‘Its ok just one foot after the other’, and he made it in the end. I had about two more tries and then Ste H said it was time to go home, I was disappointed. The instructor packed his stuff away and asked if we could all get a bag, I tried to get out of it but the instructor just threw it at me, so I picked it up and started to walk for the last ten minutes. We all got to the car and had a group picture taken. We split up in two cars and listened to some tunes on the way back.

By Jamie Kelly

Hi, my name is Louise Buckley. The rock climbing day at bury was good when we eventually got there as Ste got us lost. It was a good exercise for team working, the rest of the group were encouraging myself and Vickie to try to go higher up the rock face, but we weren’t having any of it. Nobody else needed to be encouraged as there was no stopping them. I tried the rock climbing but as soon as I took my foot off the ground I panicked because I like both my feet on the ground. The only bit I didn’t enjoy was coming home with midge bites all over me. Everyone got on really well that day, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Louise Buckley