Issued: 16 May 2008
Kick It Kick Off In Angus
An initiative which uses football to engage with young people has been launched in Angus.
Agencies across the county are supporting the CAFE Project’s Street Games for All Initiative to launch the new and exciting project called Kick It Kick Off (KIKO).
The initiative uses football as a tool to engage with young people who are displaying risk taking behaviour within schools and their surrounding communities.
Additionally KIKO utilises a computer programme which employs the development of socially acceptable behaviour and teambuilding skills. The software focuses specifically on skills which require co-operation, negotiation and compromise in order to complete the tasks.
KIKO will be based at Arbroath Football Club where young people take part in a variety of activities which include football coaching sessions, drug and alcohol awareness workshops, presentations from Angus College on further education and employment, and computer based programmes to increase skills such as literacy and numeracy.
Lee Crosby, who will be managing the project in Angus, said: “Young people are presented with incentives which include football coaching sessions and a trip to Ibrox. If they misbehave at school or in their communities these privileges are taken away which places responsibility on the young people themselves to demonstrate socially acceptable behaviour.”
Funding has been secured through the Community Regeneration Fund. The fund manager, Debbie Gowans, said “I am delighted that Lee Crosby and the Street Games for All team have agreed to take the lead in the project. I am also glad to see that Arbroath Football Club has agreed to come on board the regeneration partnership.”
In Angus, KIKO takes a multi-agency approach which is lead by Street Games for All; other partners include the Angus Youth Justice Forum, The Community Regeneration Fund, Arbroath Football Club, Tayside Council on Alcohol, Angus College, Arbroath High School and Arbroath Academy. Partnership working with schools will enable the project to identify young people who will benefit most from participating in KIKO.
Dundee City Council in partnership with Dundee Football Club were the pioneers of KIKO and have noticed fantastic results with young people in Dundee, and it is envisaged that the same level of success can be achieved in Angus. The project utilises the principle of incentives as opposed to deterrents when engaging with young people.