East Kilbride Thistle have been running free summer football camps for youngsters this month – and the club’s football development manager Aaron Connolly hopes it can help them re-engage with the community.
Connolly, who is also the first team assistant manager at the Showpark, put on a series of sessions for kids between the ages of five and 12-years-old along with club captain David Gray and under-20s player Jude Rodger.
It attracted over 40 kids each day over the past fortnight and this Saturday the young players who took part will get to showcase their skills at the Showpark, ahead of the club’s West of Scotland Third Division clash with Ardrossan Winton Rovers.
Garry O’Hanlon’s first team squad will help out and present certificates to the children on the day, and Connolly says it’s all about giving something back to the community.
The 31-year-old, who is a regional administrator for the Scottish FA, said: “We are trying to re-engage the community with the football club.
“I’ve played for this club before and I think there has been a bit of a disengagement, so we are trying to get people back involved, back watching Thistle and back talking about the club in a positive way.
“I’ve got a seven-year-old and I know summer camps are the best part of £60-£100, depending on where you send them.
“But we’ve got a good facility here and if we can use it to help the local community then it’s something we will look at doing more often.
“It went really well, the kids loved it and we’ve had really positive feedback.
“Now we are going to get the kids on the pitch for a showcase before the game this weekend.
“They’ll play mini games for an hour or so and the first team players will be there to help out and hand certificates out to the kids.
“EK Thistle has probably lost its way in recent years and we are trying to correct that. We don’t have much of a youth setup here at the moment, and we are looking into that as well.”
The youngsters and their families have already been handed free tickets to watch last Wednesday’s 3-2 win at home to Saltcoats Victoria, and the club will do the same this weekend when Ardrossan come calling.
Connolly added: “We invited the kids along to the game against Saltcoats last Wednesday night and gave each parent a free ticket for the game as well, so 30 of the kids came down.
“It was great to here them cheering on the team and we’ll be doing the same this weekend. Hopefully we can boost the attendance on Saturday and we can go and get a victory for them.”
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