A FIVE-A-SIDE football team in Coventry has been named ‘Young Cohort of the Year’ at the Levelling the Playing Field awards in London.
Hasan Koroma, originally from Sierra Leone and Gideon Asante, originally from Ghana, are part of a team of young people that first met at sports sessions run by the charity Aptitude Youth in Coventry.
Aptitude Youth is part of Levelling the Playing Field, a project which brings together organisations which use sport and physical exercise to tackle over-representation of ethnically diverse children in the youth justice system.
The £1.7m project, the biggest of its kind in the UK, is funded by the London Marathon Charitable Trust and co-managed by the Alliance of Sport in Criminal Justice and the Youth Justice Board.
The boys were chosen as winners from the 40 organisations across the West Midlands, London, South Yorkshire and Gwent.
The Aptitude Youth football team came together three years ago and through their weekly Friday night sessions led by Youth Sports Mentor Greg Smith.
They earned promotion in the local junior five-a-side league before graduating to the adult leagues, thanks to a grant from the Football Foundation.
The lads have now undergone a Sports Leaders qualification with a view to leading football sessions as volunteer coaches and youth workers for the younger generation.
Hasan and Gideon travelled to the awards which were held at Decathlon Surrey Quays with Greg Smith.
Hasan said: “I was originally invited to the group by my friend Gideon and it had helped me to meet other people while at school.”
Greg said: “I’ve been privileged to see the team develop over the last three years and go on to the next phases of their life, whether that’s college, university or work.
“They’re a pleasure to coach and hang around with. Every session we have a giggle and it’s been great watching them bond and progress from just a weekly kickabout to play competitively in the five-a-side league.”
