We are delighted to announce we have secured funding from the Glasgow Community Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund to deliver Walking Football sessions in Glasgow, through our On The Ball programme.
Building on both the work of the existing On The Ball teams and our Active Seniors programme, On The Ball Walking Football programme will commence in April and ensure more individuals can access the health benefits of the beautiful game for longer.
Studies in the UK and Denmark have revealed how Walking Football is helping individuals win battles against depression, mental illness and anxiety, especially around retirement age. Indeed, research by Ashton University into older males exposed to lifelong football found they had high levels of ‘flow’ while playing football – a state of psychological reward and satisfaction.
On the news, The Fair Play Foundation CEO Mark Reid said:
We're delighted to expand our Active Seniors and On The Ball programmes with this stream of activity. We've now been working in the area of increasing access to sport and physical activity for those over 60 years old for some time and the expansion of the On The Ball pathway via Walking Football makes complete sense to us given the well established health benefits of the sport. We'd like to thank the Glasgow Mental Health and Community Wellbeing Fund for their support and backing on this project.
We're currently collecting expressions of interest from individuals, so please leave your contact details via the form on our Walking Football page.