A Battle of the Foundations at Premier League Kicks Anniversary!
On the 12th of April, the Premier League Kicks celebrated 15 years of benefiting local communities by using sport to empower, motivate and give young people the confidence to express themselves. The stage was set at Crystal Palace’s training ground, where Foundations of clubs such as AFC Wimbledon, Tottenham and Fulham and many others came together to participate in a football tournament. The teams included a range of boys and girls from various backgrounds who represented their Foundations and proudly wore the colours of their club and battled to finish with the winners trophy!
The AFC Wimbledon Foundation lined up with promising stars that had shown their quality by attending Kicks sessions regularly, and they were picked up from Tooting and Mitcham F.C in a classical London red bus! After driving through South London in style, they arrived at the Crystal Palace Training Ground full of excitement- ready to show what they’re made of. They entered the fantastic facilities to get changed into kit, had a few snacks for energy and then made their way onto the football pitch. The Foundations collectively sat together and were glad to listen to a pre tournament talk from Crystal Palace star Conor Gallagher who motivated the boys and girls and talked about his inspirations growing up.
Warm-ups and final preparations then began and the teams were really looking forward to playing football, and the AFC Wimbledon coaches Kasha, Yas and Steven began their briefings for the teams on the games ahead. The girls kicked off the opening game against Leyton Orient for the Foundation, and straight off the bat the girls were up 1-0 due to a beautifully worked bit of play on the left hand side opening space in the middle for an easy tap in! The girls continued to dominate the game and played very well in possession of the ball. They then added a second goal in the game to secure the win and were relieved as well as excited for the next match up. On the other end, the boys were battling at the same time against Charlton Athletic in what proved to be a tough challenge. The following games brought out heroics from the girls’ side as they came back from a 2-0 deficit to bring the game back to 2-2 against Tottenham!
It was a truly fantastic experience for all involved, and coach Kasha said that “it was great to be able to bring three squads to their first big kicks tournament, and all the young people had a lot of fun on the day, celebrating PL Kicks’ 15 year anniversary. Participants Sian and Libby said that they truly enjoyed the day and that their favourite moment was celebrating their goals as a team.
