MEPC Milton Park Director, James Dipple recently visited Milton United FC to support their work with the Kinetic Academy and the Youth Community Acting Together (YCAT).
YCAT is an initiative of the Abingdon DAMASCUS Youth Project which helps young people who are disengaged from education or who are under achieving, who lack appropriate support at home, who are suffering from deprived economic circumstances, or who have succumbed to negative peer pressure. The objective is to promote the development of the personal, social & educational potential of all young people between the age of 11 to 25 years who live in the area encompassed by the five villages of Drayton, Appleford, Milton, Sutton Courtenay, &Steventon in the county of Oxfordshire, and in particular those who are disadvantaged by adverse social conditions.
At the start of the month, the Kinetic Academy and DAMASCUS put on a football event for the children involved in the project.
Kaylie Byrne, one of the young people involved said, “It was worth it because I got to have fun and meet people who are going to the same school as me next year, so I don’t feel so lonely now.”
Benjamin Crook, who also attended said, “Now I have played football I want to join a local team and get more involved and better at it.”
Ryan Tappin, one of the YCAT support workers said, “It was great to see all the young people having such a great time throughout the three days, learning new transferable skills. It was also good to see the older young people work with the younger ones and help them through the three days.”
“We are enablers not providers – our main aim is to build positive relationships with core groups of young people and empower them to take on leadership roles within their communities, schools and workplace – we are always looking for willing adults to help out with the different projects we facilitate”