United Duo Meet Foundation Volunteers

Participants in the Manchester United Foundation’s Volunteer Ninety Nine programme were rewarded for their commitment and hard work with a visit to the Aon Training Complex to meet Juan Mata and Daley Blind earlier this month.

A group of 10, consisting of those about to complete the final phase of the unique volunteering scheme and those who are about to start it, spent time with the United duo, enjoying a passing and shooting game followed by a question and answer session.

Aimed at 16-25 year-olds who are interested in pursuing a career in sport, Volunteer Ninety Nine is designed to provide training, nationally recognised qualifications and work experience. Every hour counts with participants encouraged to achieve milestones of 33, 66 and 99 hours of volunteering, to emulate the success of United’s Treble-winning heroes from the 1998/99 season. The Foundation coaches mentor the participants through the three levels, which represent the FA Cup, Premier League and Champions League trophies, as they build up to their own Treble triumph at 99 hours.

Hours can be accumulated via a number of Foundation projects, including Street Reds, a community cohesion programme which takes place at nine locations across Greater Manchester and aims to use the power of football to offer young people the chance to pursue their interest in playing, leading and coaching the game at a variety of levels. Another scheme which volunteers can get involved in is Premier League 4 Sport – a national initiative which aims to engage young people in new sports.

Mata and Blind were interested to hear about the programme and offer advice and encouragement to those involved.

“For every player it’s always a pleasure to work with young people and the Foundation has done great work over many years. It’s well known that United has a great Foundation that is always trying to help so many people and it’s great for us to come here and help as well,” Mata told us.

“It’s nice for us to have the opportunity to talk about what they love to do and what we love to do which is play football and we always try to be an example to them. Sport and especially football is a very good way to have relationships with others, make friends and to have a good lifestyle.”

Mitchell Freeman, 19, was thrilled to meet two of his heroes and had nothing but good things to say about the programme. “I’ve been a United fan virtually since the day I was born so it was a massive thing for me to be able to have a kick-about with the players. It’s not an opportunity you get to experience very often in life.

“Taking part in the programme has been fantastic. It’s helped me develop as a coach – I’ve already got a couple of badges now – and it’s given me lots of opportunities and allowed me to get the best out of myself both as a coach and a person.”

Foundation cohesion manager Dawn Bracegirdle, who oversees Volunteer Ninety Nine, added: “It’s a really innovative project and it has allowed us to help and support young people in developing their leadership skills and progress into employment in a field they enjoy. Youth unemployment is a real problem in Greater Manchester and we get a lot of requests for volunteering at the Foundation so it made sense to put those two things together in a structured programme which allows young people to gain valuable work experience and professional qualifications.”

Credit: manutd.com