Liverpool YMCA

The YMCA football team play in the Liverpool Homeless League every month and also in cup competitions. The YMCA were a founder member of this league and we have just completed our second season. Every month we have taken between 5 to 13 men to play in an friendly well organized tournament. This has been achieved through monthly meetings of Liverpool Homeless Football Club where the YMCA works in partnership with Liverpool City Council, The Football Association, The Power League, Community Health Ambassadors, The Big Issue and 10 other hostels to provide a top quality day.

Since we started the YMCA football team we have provided regular football for over 70 members and I have witnessed an incredible amount of energy, determination, skill, teamwork, dedication and growing respect between our members, staff and referees. It has helped our members in many ways as well as the obvious improvement in physical health and self esteem it has allowed us to break down the traditional boundaries between staff and members. It has also given our members the chance to meet other agencies that can help them and people in similar situations to themselves.

The Homeless League has not just been about football, we have managed to organize a number of fantastic initiatives through the league. We have helped a number of YMCA members achieve various qualifications including the FA Level 1 Coaching Badge and the OCR Level 1 / Level 2 in Literacy and Numeracy.  In partnership with the Community Health Ambassadors Team we have given many of our members opportunities for health and lifestyle gain, this has included action based learning for health interventions, covering diet and nutrition, alcohol  awareness, drug misuse, testicular cancer sessions and smoking cessation. We have also been able to offer health assessments to all our players in the form of Health MOTs.

TONY HOGAN  - YMCA MEMBER
I joined the YMCA’s football team when it started up last winter and we play about every two weeks. It’s been a great experience and one of the best things have been the chance to get together with other people in a similar situation to me, lots of whom I didn’t know before getting involved in Liverpool Homeless FC. I’m 53 and there are plenty of younger lads on the team but we all get on great together – there’s so much enthusiasm and team spirit and no prima donnas either which helps. The football really helps people build their self esteem, which can be a massive issue when you are homeless. Obviously football is also a  great way to keep fit too. But as well as being important for my physical health. I’ve found playing regularly has been another powerful confidence booster because to play well you really do have to look after yourself and that’s a really good start to getting yourself sorted and making things better.