Community

Foundation help us celebrate World Cerebral Palsy Day

Community participants act as club mascots.

CP mascots

Leeds United are delighted to be celebrating World Cerebral Palsy Day as we help to bring together people living with cerebral palsy, including their families, supporters and awareness organisations.

World Cerebral Palsy Day takes place on 6th October and the main aim is to ensure any children or adults with cerebral palsy have the same rights, opportunities and access as others in our society.

Ahead of the annual awareness event, young members of our Leeds United Foundation pan disability team, who are all living with cerebral palsy, had the opportunity to be a club mascot for our game against Coventry City, with each of them proudly helping to lead the team out at kick-off.

Simon Wood, the Health and Wellbeing Lead at the Leeds United Foundation, spoke to LUTV ahead of the match and said: “We were delighted to have some of our young players come down today to be mascots at the game, and just celebrate their greatness.

“They are players who have cerebral palsy, and they all play for us in our pan-disability team, attending one to two sessions on an evening every week, playing and enjoying their football. It’s a great session that we deliver because it gives them the opportunity to play the beautiful game we all love.”

Alongside the young players we also had one of their coaches, Luke Harrison, who also lives with cerebral palsy, and he gave us an insight into how it impacts his everyday life: “I’m affected down my right-hand side, and so it can impact my balance and coordination and especially when playing football tiredness and muscle tightness are factors I have to think about.

“Seeing the guys down here today as mascots has really put a smile on my face as a member of coaching staff, to see them have this opportunity to come and meet the players and have this experience on a matchday is amazing.

“Football is for everyone, and there should be no barriers in football no matter what disability you may have, everyone should have the right to play football at a good level and most importantly enjoy it.”

For further information around World Cerebral Palsy Day please click here.

Or if you would like to find out any more information on our disability offering within the Leeds United Foundation, please contact [email protected].

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