Kidlington FC are looking to spread the word about the club in the community through free coaching sessions for local primary school children in the village.

The Greens are hoping to make football accessible to all by providing sessions free of charge, something made possible by grant money from the Trident Community Foundation. 

Director of Football Barry Hiles spoke about how the vital cash injection helped get the project back off the ground after the pandemic and the importance of the project is in engaging the local population with the club.

He said: “We started to have a look at getting into the primary schools and the local schools just before Covid hit and then obviously it all broke down.

“We hadn’t done anything more about it but then this came up and it was the ideal opportunity to resurrect it.

“We’re going out to two schools, which are both a stone’s throw away from the football club, offering free sessions in after school clubs for ages 5-11.

“And after the Easter break, we’re going to offer a girls’ coaching courses and that will be done at the football club.” 

The scheme is just the latest to be put in place by the Pitching In Southern League Division One Central side, who are committed to their role as a force for good in their small community and hope to encourage more people through the turnstiles. 

“It’s a village and we’re just trying to let people know where we are and what we’re about, really – and the two nearest primary schools were an ideal opportunity,” added Hiles. 

“We run a mini-club on a Saturday morning for local children and that’s done by our first-team manager so we try to get out as much as we possibly can within the parameters of affordability. 

“It helps that our first team manager is a football coach as well, so he’s actually going out and doing the sessions which obviously promotes the club because they all want to see who the first team manager is.” 

The Greens are one of more than 40 clubs to have benefited from a Trident Community Foundation grant, part of Pitching In’s multi-million-pound investment into grassroots sport, and Hiles hailed the fund’s impact in making the initiative a reality.

He said: “This was an ideal opportunity for us because otherwise we would have had to look to fund it ourselves and, because of Covid, we didn’t have a massive amount of cash.

“We wouldn’t have been in a position to do what we’re offering now without the grant funding, without question.

“If it’s successful, then without a doubt [we’ll carry it on] and we’ll have to ringfence money to cover the cost of the coaches.

“That’s the idea, hopefully it takes off and we can look at a later date into offering it to more schools.”

Ladbrokes, with the support of its owner Entain, has launched a multi-million pound investment programme, Pitching In, designed to support and promote grassroots sports. For more details see: https://entaingroup.com/sustainability/pitching-in/