Another landmark reached in the rich history of our wonderful club – today sees Eastbourne Borough ‘Spirit of Football’ Disability Squad celebrate ten years since its formation.
Formed back in January 2015, to mark the occasion the team have been enjoying a very special day full of fun events and activities.
Ten years ago the club advertised the opportunity for local children with mental or physical disabilities to come along to Priory Lane and enjoy a taster session of football training.
The idea was to offer fun and exciting football sessions for neurodiverse youngsters in our community who weren’t engaged in any form of sport or activity – to remove the idea of disability and instead provide an opportunity for children to showcase their ABILITY.
Coaches Tim Brown and Harry Schuetze were greeted by a handful of nervous youngsters at that very first session, however they soon got stuck in to the drills, games and matches that had been laid on for them.
Once the morning was over Tim asked the players and parents if they had enjoyed themselves and if they would like to make it a weekly free event.
The answer was a resounding yes and so began a decade of football fun, laughter, opportunity and development here at the club.
It wasn’t long before Tim suggested a few names for the parents and players to vote on as families weren’t keen on being labelled as a disability team.
A unanimous decision was reached – going forward we were now to be known as Eastbourne Borough ‘Spirit of Football’ Squad.
Funding was soon gained from Sussex FA and Acorns Charitable Trust for some bespoke Football Game Frames for our children with cerebral palsy to use, and we suddenly started growing in numbers as word spread throughout the community.
Children were soon travelling from Hastings, Newhaven and Heathfield for their football fix and as the years went by Tim recruited more disability coaches in order to match demand.
Not even Covid could stop our growth as players socialised online every week for 12 months. Soon our Spirit team were playing in tournaments at St George’s Park, joining in each year with our annual World Cup Fun Day, representing the Sports in the Sussex Disability Football League at Lancing and launching the club’s own Half Term Disability Soccer Schools and annual Disability Football Tournament which both proved hugely popular.
It wasn’t long before player numbers grew so large that the squad was split into two groups on Saturdays – our juniors (primary school age) and our seniors (secondary school & adult).
Our Spirit players now range from ages 6 to 22 and have a wide range of impairments such as downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, ADHD, hearing & multi sensory impairments and developmental delays to name but a few.
No child is ever refused a place in the team, so our nine coaches have the extremely difficult task of learning and understanding each child’s unique abilities which we record during our introductory parent & player voice 1-to-1’s.
And thanks to the amazing generosity of club sponsor Norwegian Cruise Line, those Spirit players that show excellent attendance earn themselves the official first team shirt to wear at training. Now thanks to our wonderful friends at Trident Fish Restaurant based in Old Town these players today received new tracksuit tops to see them through the winter! We also want to say thank you to partners Viasat who donated bobble hats!
Head Coach Tim is extremely proud of how far the team has progressed over the past ten years. He said: “It’s fantastic that three of our original founding players still attend to this day.
“Joshua, Marius and Matas have stuck with us from day one, through tiny numbers and appalling weather at times, and they don’t miss a session.
“They now form part of our Junior Disability Coaching Programme and support our younger children, and it’s great that so many of our older players move on to part time weekend jobs having gained invaluable life skills from our sessions.
“I would like to pay tribute to the many coaches that have come and gone over the years and especially to my amazingly talented and hard working coaching team of Emma Ward, Becky Lane, Lee Jackson, David Bass, Marcus Hunt, Samantha Burnett, Rebecca Carter and Saul Evison for making the magic happen each week.
“These coaches don’t just change the game – they change lives. What I’ve learnt most over these past ten years is that neurodiverse people are often the very best of humanity, and so I would urge anyone needing a shot of positivity to come and visit us on a Saturday morning because you’ll soon feel the ‘Spirit’ for yourself.
“The camaraderie, teamwork, care, compassion and encouragement that our children show towards each other is truly unique and humbling to witness. This is their safe space where they feel welcomed and loved, and so they blossom into showcasing their abilities in a variety of ways.
“We now have nearly 40 children who train with us each week and plans are already in place for us to accommodate even more players and coaches over the next few seasons, so the future looks extremely exciting.”
So a big Happy Birthday to our wonderful ‘Spirit of Football’ Squad and here’s to the next ten years – “Up the Spirits!”
Photos: Ellie Schuetze.
