Mya and Her Family Benefit from Reds Short Breaks Programme.

Reds in the Community, Barnsley FC’s community charity, run a short breaks programme which provides activities for participants with disabilities to enjoy valuable sporting experiences away from their parents and carers. In turn, parents and carers benefit with a valuable respite from caring.

The Father of one Short Breaks participant, Mya, has nothing but praise for the programme saying “The benefits to Mya have been immense, she’s had plenty of time to herself, her own independence which has brought her on at school and she’s got to meet other people and make friends, She got fit which is huge with kids now being sat at home a lot, she has gained a lot of skills, she’s met other people and she is socialising and now going to parties and other people’s houses and it has helped to remove a lot of boundaries and promotes a bit of conversation”

“As a family, we have had time to rest, relax and spend time with our other children and its helped them have a closer time as well and enable us to recharge our batteries and be a better parent both to our younger children and Mya”

The range of activities provided includes; Holiday Course, Saturday Coaching Club and After-School Multi-Sport sessions as well as competitive football fixtures in the South Yorkshire Ability Counts League involving neighbouring football club charities. All activities are delivered at Oakwell and within the community.

Mya’s father continues, “She (Mya) has tried mainstream sport and provisions and she has struggled, she feels very involved when she comes down here and feels like a team player, the staff are amazing, extremely supportive and understanding and go above and beyond I’m sure of their regular duties it’s been an amazing experience we trust and respect that Mya is supervised here at all times”

The Short Break programme is run in partnership with Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council. Reds in the Community are part of the Every Player Counts programme which is funded by Wembley National Stadium Trust and EFL Trust.  Every Player Counts has, over the past four years, got over 11,000 disabled people into football. Barnsley are one of 28 Football Club Community Organisations across the country that offer the programme which is specifically developed for the needs of people in their local community, including those with physical, mental and learning impairments.