For a lot of MAN v FAT gamers, stepping out onto the pitch after becoming a member of the programme is the primary time in a few years that they’ve kicked a ball.
However, after pulling on the boots once more, the lads typically get the urge for food to play extra soccer as their health grows.
Our MAN v FAT St Helens gamers are taking this to the intense, with an upcoming fundraising occasion in August, the place they’ll play for twenty-four hours to lift funds for the Sean’s Place charity.
Sean’s Place is a males’s psychological well being charity that goals to enhance males’s psychological well being and well-being throughout Merseyside, by way of help particularly recognized to enhance confidence and shallowness for males while lowering melancholy, stress and anxiousness and suicidal ideas.
Debbie Rogers, CEO and Founder, mentioned: “Big thanks to everybody at MAN v FAT for selecting Sean’s Place to help. To have so many males selecting to participate to lift consciousness of psychological well being for different males and fundraise to help our service is unimaginable.
“That is how we really save lives collectively. Best possible of luck to everybody collaborating, and thanks on behalf of all of us at Sean’s Place!”
To seek out out extra in regards to the occasion, we caught up with the fellows behind the occasion in St Helens, to learn how it happened.
1) Inform us how the concept for the fundraising sport happened?
The thought happened when considered one of our lads, who’d simply returned from harm, was wanting to play, however we didn’t have sufficient individuals out there that night. He was going to overlook the following session too, so it felt like we’d hit a little bit of a soccer drought. Somebody joked, “I might play for twenty-four hours straight,” simply to make up for the dearth of video games. That joke shortly changed into a critical dialogue, and we thought, why not?
A 24-hour match could possibly be an ideal option to carry everybody collectively, get energetic once more, and lift cash for trigger. We put out a ballot to see if others have been on board, and the response was overwhelmingly optimistic. It was clear this wasn’t only a one-off concept—it was one thing everybody wished to get behind. And from there, issues snowballed quick, with native venues and sponsors leaping in to assist make it occur.
2) The St Helens membership has constructed a unbelievable neighborhood within the final couple of years – how have the lads obtained behind this and different neighborhood primarily based concepts?
The St Helens lads are fiercely aggressive, however what actually stands out is how welcoming and supportive we’re as a gaggle. We push one another to be higher, whether or not that’s on the pitch or in supporting native causes. We’ve all the time obtained one another’s backs, and it’s that unity that makes us stronger.
As a membership, we’ve raised over £6,000 for varied charities and native causes, together with fundraising for Oddballs and Muscular Dystrophy UK. We’ve carried out plenty of charity drives and all the time make certain to rally across the neighborhood when wanted. Whether or not it’s a staff member working an occasion or us collectively pitching in for trigger, we’re all the time able to step up and assist the place we will.
3) How did the membership come to decide on the trigger?
As a gaggle, everyone knows how vital bodily well being is—that’s why we joined MANvFAT within the first place. However psychological well being is simply as very important, and infrequently doesn’t get the eye it deserves. We felt it was vital to help a trigger that tackles that aspect of issues head-on. After we seemed into choices, Sean’s Place actually stood out.
Their work is about eradicating limitations and offering quick, non-judgemental help to males throughout Merseyside—serving to to scale back isolation, anxiousness, and melancholy. After listening to their story and the way the trigger was arrange in reminiscence of Sean, it struck a chord with a number of us. Selecting them was a straightforward determination.
4) What excites you most in regards to the occasion and what do you assume would be the largest challenges?
Firstly, what excites us most is the possibility to do one thing actual to help Sean’s Place. If this occasion helps increase consciousness, begins conversations, or makes a tangible distinction to even one individual, it’ll be price each aching muscle. Figuring out that we’re backing a trigger that gives quick, life-changing help to males who’re struggling—that’s the true driver for us.
On high of that, there’s the excitement of seeing the neighborhood rally collectively, particularly in these powerful night time hours when vitality’s low and staff spirit carries you thru. The largest problem shall be protecting everybody going for the total 24 hours—however with the trigger we’re taking part in for, we’ll discover a option to dig deep.