Witney Vikings FC likes to listen to members requests and fulfil their needs wherever possible. One of their volunteers, Mat Berry, has managed the U8’s team for the past three years. Whilst his oldest son can easily play in the team, his middle child Louis is unable to as he was born with an acquired brain injury with a secondary diagnosis of autism and hearing loss. Despite Matt’s best coaching efforts to help his son, Louis simply cannot cope with playing traditional football, despite being enthusiastic and wanting to be part of the team alongside his older brother.
Keen to find a solution to enable Louis to play football with children with similar needs, Mat and his wife Hannah, explored all avenues but found no provisions available in the West Oxfordshire area. As Mat and Hannah both work in the public sector, they have many years of experience supporting young people with neurodiversity and complex needs. Finding no local solution, they both felt compelled to start something in the local community. When Mat broached the subject of the Witney Vikings FC starting a fully inclusive package for younger children at a Club committee meeting, the board was in full support.
“Knowing that Witney Vikings FC could see the value of what I was proposing was wonderful,” says Mat. “Together with the Club chair Steve Bott, Hannah and I started the process of approaching Oxfordshire FA regarding our desire to offer inclusive packages to children in Witney and surrounding areas. We have been in regular contact with Michael Thurlow from Oxfordshire FA, completing all the relevant training to be able to offer a Comets programme. We are incredibly passionate about inclusivity and are extremely excited, as is Louis, to start this new programme. We have already had a considerable amount of interest from local families and the stories they have shared with us are harrowing. We are in communication with a number of organisations such as Autism Oxford UK, Oxfordshire Family Support Network, Yellow Submarine and Thomley in Buckinghamshire.”
Chair Steve Bott adds: “Working in collaboration with Oxfordshire FA and Witney Tower Hill FC to launch the brand-new Comet session starting in April is so exciting and ground breaking for all concerned. Comets is a recreational, pan-disability football offer for disabled children aged 5 to 11. The programme is focused on helping disabled children have fun, whilst building confidence, independence and social relationships. Comets provides an environment in which participants can feel safe and belong. All sessions are delivered by FA qualified coaches who have all received specific programme training and guidance. This ensures that they can provide a safe place for disabled children to try football for the first time and develop key skills.”
“By launching Comets, we are opening up a pathway for disabled players to have fun in a recreational environment. Comets will also give other clubs the confidence to engage and support disabled players with a fun introduction to football, helping to grow this pathway.”
Pan-disability is the largest format of disability football, which sees players with a broad range of impairments and health conditions play together inclusively. Whilst Comets is a pan-disability programme, Steve and Mat along with the other coaches are hoping that there will be opportunities to utilise it in an impairment-specific environment, bringing together players with the same impairment.
For anyone interested in finding out how their son or daughter can be part of Witney Vikings Comets, please visit witneyvikings.co.uk or contact Steve Bott via email bott6@hotmail.com or call 07597 738367 for further information.
