‘It was a dream come true for the participants to play alongside their idols.’
Brewers winger David Templeton and young goalkeeper Jack Livesey were out in the local community this week, showing their support for a Powerchair Football session ran in partnership with Burton Albion Community Trust.
Powerchair football is a unique sport that provides opportunities for people with a high level of impairment to access the game of football. It is the only active team participation sport for people who use electric wheelchairs.
The Scottish duo joined in with the St George’s Knights Burton Albion Chariots training session, who currently play in the open aged West Midlands Powerchair Premiership Regional League.
During their visit, they got the chance to experience what it was like to play football in a powerchair, whilst also learning more information about the rules of the session and the conditions that the participants live with.
The side, who train on Wednesday evenings from 6pm-7pm at the Meadowside Leisure Centre, is ran by volunteers from the Staffordshire area, working in partnership with coaches from Burton Albion Community Trust.
Their most recent result was an impressive 5-1 victory over Manchester United’s PFC team, last Sunday afternoon.
Adam Lawrence, Community Coach at BACT, said: “It was such a fantastic experience for everyone involved. Both the players showed a great amount of interest in the session and got really involved.
“We’ve got a couple of really big Burton fans who attend the session and it was a dream come true for them to get to play the sport that they love, alongside their idols that they watch week in, week out.
“Even those who aren’t from the area and travel in from as far as Newcastle-Under-Lyme, are starting to show a real interest in the club now, so appearances like this are invaluable to what we are trying to do as a whole.”
For more information on the sessions, which includes development training for beginners, please call the St George’s Knights Chairman, Jason Christer on: 07805944462.
