Walking Football : Impact!

On Saturday 13th June, Alex made his debut for York City FC Foundation's Walking Football Team. 

The invitation to okay was a direct result of our University of York Festival of Ideas appearance with Rob Nichols the week before.  Real academic impact!

The occasion was a football festival tournament for mental health hosted by York City FC on its five-a-side courts in the shadow of its home ground, the LNER Community Stadium.

Alex was a substitute for York City FC (reds) in all games, debuting in a 1-1 draw with Leeds United (and getting a few shots on target if not in the net) and then participating in a 2-0 win over York City FC (black), and a narrow 0-1 defeat to Easingwold Town.

This qualified them as second place to play in the Grand Final against Group Champions Easingwold Town in a much closer repeat fixture.  Alex came close to breaking the 0-0 deadlock when he took the ball half way up the pitch and put in a high powered effort which hit the post, but would have been the goal of his career had it been mere inches to the right.  Whether or not it was actually intended as a cross is subject to debate!

Alas, it was not to be, 0-0 after normal time and onto penalties which Easingwold won narrowly 2-3.

So, tangible academic impact: A very credible runners-up for York City FC Foundation (reds) and an exciting adventure in a wonderful event to celebrate football and help mental health.

The photograph at the top of this post shows Alex in his York City shirt and was created using the Panini football stickers app.

Providing Evidence for the House of Lords: A 'National Plan for Sport & Recreation' ?

We are delighted to announce that we have had another piece or written evidence published, this time for a House of Lords Select Committee for a 'National Plan for Sport & Recreation'. 

The National Plan for Sport and Recreation Committee is appointed to consider the effectiveness of current sport and recreation policies and initiatives, and the case for a national plan for sport and recreation.

View our written evidence here (opens as pdf or) here (html).

Or, check out all of the written evidence (we are NPS0022 credited to 'York Management School') here 

More about the inquiry and all of the evidence types here.

This follows another recent contribution of written evidence, in January our work was included amongst several expert reports for a UK Parliament Select Committee for 'Digital, Culture, Media and Sport' inquiry into 'Sport in our communities'.

Walking Football = good for your health

 

Whilst the professional game is fast-paced and physical, particularly here in the UK, participation in football can in fact be enjoyed by people of all ages and ability.

'Walking Football' is proposed as beneficial to mental health.  This short BBC news article looks into the proposed benefits of 'walking football' for older and depressed men.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/video_and_audio/headlines/36329589