Wrexham Inclusion Football Club recognised for 1000’s of hours of volunteering

The outstanding commitment and achievements of a Wrexham-based social inclusion football club have been celebrated at a recent ceremony.

AVOW recognised the thousands of volunteering hours a year by the Wrexham Inclusion Football Team at their Annual General Meeting (AGM).

The Wrexham Inclusion Football Club is the largest social inclusion football club in Wales and the largest voluntary club of it’s kind in the United Kingdom.

The club is aimed at supporting service users and players from a multitude of backgrounds, ranging from disability, mental health, social inclusion and isolation, autism spectrum, obesity, learning differences, criminal justice, substance misuse, homelessness and much more.

They currently support players ranging in ages from 11 years old with no higher age cap and in 2017 they were the most travelled club in the UK totalling over 17,000 miles.

Currently there are currently 15 coaches offering their time to the Wrexham Inclusion Football Club – each bringing their own wealth of experience to the team. All coaches are time served, meaning they have worked through the programme and progressed onto volunteering and coaching.

By the end of the year the team’s volunteers will have given nearly 12,000 of their time. Each week their tailored sessions see in excess of 70 service users attending training sessions.

To celebrate their achievements and commitment the team were awarded with a Certificate of Outstanding Achievement Star Award – which recognises organisations and individuals to commemorate the work of volunteers.

It has been a year of achievements for the club, who earlier this year were ranked sixth best in Europe after heading to Germany to compete in the Regenbogen Cup, the European Mental Health Championships.

A month later exceeded all expectation by having two teams reach the final of a 60 plus team competition in Belfast named the George Best Disability Cup.

The club have also won numerous awards with the management team being voted Legends of Sport in Wales by Sports Wales; along with gaining recognition through the Football Association of Wales Trust by becoming the leading mental health footballer provider of the FAW.

Recently Wrexham Inclusion Football Club gained accreditation within sport by successfully gaining a ribbon and bronze award and are now currently working towards silver and gold.