The Goals Beyond Grass HAF Programme was enjoyed by over 30 children throughout 2022, many of which had physical and learning disabilities. 

Each child was asked to give us one sentence about their experience with the HAF programme, and a rating out of 10. 

On average, our rating was a 9/10, with over half of the answers being 10/10 or higher!

Children’s Feedback – August 2022

• A total of 75 participants were counted
• Of those 75, we had 27 different children, 19 of which came back on multiple occasions
• 51% of the 27 participants had a disability
• 72% said that they tried something new
• Almost 2 Thirds said that they made new friends
• 78% said that they had a great day
• All of the children said that they had Fun and felt Happy
• 71% rated their day 5/5 stars

Children’s Feedback – December 2022

• Best Day of My Life
• I liked all of the activities that happened during the day. The food has also been yummy.
• It was fun because I learned how to use the PowerChairs. It was good to meet people.
• It was very good to play with different people
• I enjoyed the parachute games
• I loved the snowball fight
• 9.8/10
• I liked Basketball
• I liked cycling in the hall when it was raining, outside is more fun though

Abs Nanabawa is one of our Gloucester City PAN Disability Football Players. His first contact with Goals Beyond Grass was in late 2021, when he was referred to us by Create Gloucestershire. He is visually impaired, which challenges him in many different situations, on and off the football pitch, which caused him to feel socially isolated after moving to Gloucestershire in 2019. When Abs was referred to us via Create Gloucestershire, we had only recently set up our Gloucester City PAN Disability football teams, which Abs wanted to play in. This was due to his love for football, his desire to meet new people, and improve his fitness.

On the football pitch, Abs struggles to see the ball and his surroundings, which cause him to have great difficulty passing the ball, and shooting. However, this doesn’t stop him. With help from the GBG team, Abs manages to negotiate his way around these challenges, and is a strong player, and a leader, in our Development team, that play in the Gloucestershire FA Disability Counts League.

When he first arrived at our PAN football sessions, Abs felt “Socially Isolated, nervous, and low in confidence”, and ‘he was anxious because of the new environment, and a feeling that the help he needed wouldn’t be provided to him’. The Goals Beyond Grass team helped him through this stage, showing that any help that he needs will provided, from tying his laces on his boots for him, to having a spotter on the side of the pitch, telling him where the ball is going and where he should be to give him the best chance to score, which he has done in both of the last two ‘tournaments’ (as the matches are only 6-a-side and 25 minutes long, all of the teams will head to one venue and play 1 or 2 matches against each team in their league).

“Being part of a team is amazing, as we all work together to overcome each other’s disabilities, and get to the level that we need to compete as a team in the FA Disability Counts League.” – Abs Nanabawa.

Off the football pitch, Abs has seen an improvement in his Mental Health and Wellbeing, because he is regularly playing the sport that he loves, and he gets 2 hours of social interaction each week which he wouldn’t have otherwise. He also helps with other Goals Beyond Grass initiatives, such as helping us come up with ideas to improve social isolation outside of sports, like our new Food, Fun, and Friendship group, which invites people into a warm space, to chat and have some warm food.

Oakley Adult Opportunity Centre (Oakley AOC) is a Day Centre that is based in Cheltenham, which we have been delivering sessions to since our first year of operation. Oakley provide day care for adults with learning disabilities.

Oakley come to our GOGA sessions (Get out Get active) every Wednesday at the GL3 Community Hub, where we set up and play inclusive sports with many of the service users and staff. This is a great opportunity for the centre to take their service users outside of the AOC, buut ensure that where they are going is safe, and familiar. We also have more room here than they do at Oakley, so we can play more intense games with those who can, such as Football and Basketball.

We also go into Oakley at least 4 times a year to deliver Powerchair Football Sessions, which allow everyone there to have a go in the chairs, score a couple of goals, and support their peers when they have their go. We also get the carers to have a go, which all of the service users love to see, as they rarely have good control of the chairs, there is always a lot of laughing.