Football in it’s purest form isn’t about winning, losing or being better than anyone else.
It should be about the love of simply playing the game, enjoying joyous moments with friends and feeling a part of something. That’s what our next featured club represents.
Introducing: Braunton FC Ability
We’ve been aware of the guys and girls from Braunton and the work they do for disability football in North Devon for a while. But being based at the opposite end of the country, we’d never had the pleasure of meeting them.
That was until a couple of months ago when they decided to go “on tour” to our home city of Sheffield. The perfect opportunity for us to make them part of our Kitunlocker campaign.
For the last four years, Braunton FC Ability have provided completely free weekly sessions for players who are neurodiverse, have a physical disability or struggle to play mainstream football due to anxiety, depression or communication difficulties.
We chatted to Mel Regan, founder and Head Coach, about what the club is all about:
“It’s incredibly important for disabled people to have access to sport and, in lots of cases, access to free sport. When you look at the opportunities that are available, there aren’t that many.”
“For people who have additional needs, it’s so important for their physical health and their mental wellbeing for them to be able to access the same opportunities that everybody else has available to them.”
“Football brings them together as a team and gives them the opportunity to play a team sport, which lots of them haven’t had before.”
Find out more about the club and what they got up to on their trip north to Sheffield, by watching the video below ⬇️
It was amazing to meet Mel and the team from Braunton FC Ability during their session with Derek Dooley FC in Sheffield. We loved the team’s reaction when presented with their new Nike Kitunlocker match kits. We’re sure you’ll agree they all looked great in their new shirts.
We’ve never seen more smiles on people’s faces whilst playing football and it was a real reminder of what the beautiful game should be all about.
MORE: For more on this campaign, check out the Kitunlocker homepage where you’ll find links to all of our collaborations so far.