Gareth and Adam dropped in to visit the Year 5 class at Moston Fields Primary School to take part in the Strike a Balance programme, where they took part in an education session on healthy eating and a kickabout outside, both of which you can see in an exclusive video. Using the example of a top footballer’s diet, the project helps young people to realise that healthy food does not need to be boring food.
The Strike a Balance programme is a partnership between the club’s community scheme City in the Community (CITC), Manchester Healthy Schools and Manchester City Council that will see CITC offer the free five-week programme to 120 primary schools, equating to 3,600 children, throughout Manchester. The project was named the Best Community Project at the North West Football Awards last year.
Each session covers a different area of healthy eating and is followed by a football session. Topics covered include:
• The balance of good health
• Why we eat what we eat
• The importance of physical activity
• Cooking healthy, balanced meals
Full-service law firm Hill Dickinson has made a two year commitment to support the project. Head of Hill Dickinson’s Manchester Office, Geraldine Ryan, says of the law firm’s partnership with City in the Community:
“As well as directly supporting CITC’s activity through involvement with and sponsorship of its events and initiatives, we intend to use our position of strength in the Manchester commercial sector to engage the wider regional business community in the campaign. As leading providers of legal advice to, amongst others, the sports, education and health sectors, the Healthy Schools campaign is highly relevant to our business strategy and we are delighted to partner CITC in this excellent project.”
Healthy Schools Project Manager for CITC, Lisa Kimpton, said:
“The Strike a Balance programme was first introduced a year ago and has proved to be a great success. The children we work with are inspired by the example of the professional players and meeting them in the flesh can only help reinforce our message.
“We are extremely grateful to Hill Dickinson for their sponsorship of this project. With their contribution we are able to take our programme to even more schools in the region and help ensure that Manchester’s youngsters get off to a healthy start in life.”
Every school that takes part in the programme will be invited to take part in a football tournament while every young person will receive their own work folder and Strike a Balance apron.
For more information about Strike a Balance please contact City in the Community on 0161 438 7711 or e-mail citc@mcfc.co.uk.
