Swans Foundation pan-disability participants attend Premier League Disability Festival

Swansea City AFC Foundation’s Premier League Kicks pan-disability participants recently took part in the Premier League Disability Festival tournament.

The young team travelled from the Swansea.com Stadium to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Sir Jack Hayward training centre, before pulling on the Swans shirt and facing off against representatives from clubs across the Premier League and EFL, including Manchester United, Everton and Birmingham City.

This comes as the release of the Foundation's 2022-23 impact report shows the number of participants with disabilities at the charity’s programmes has risen, with 9.2 per cent of attendees across all projects having a disability.

This is a significant rise for the Foundation, which had found 7.3 per cent of participants had a disability in their previous report.

Learning disability manager Lloyd Thomas leads the weekly pan-disability sessions at Pure Football, and was delighted to be able to provide the group of participants with the chance to represent Swansea City.

“It’s fantastic for the participants to be able to travel and take part in this tournament,” said Thomas.

“They’ve had the chance to pull on the kit and represent the football club, and to be facing off against all these different teams is a fantastic opportunity for them.

“It’s great for their confidence, they get the chance to meet people from other clubs, and practicing those social skills are really beneficial for their growth as young people.

“Seeing them come here to show their skills and their teamwork is fantastic for us, it’s been an inclusive opportunity for them and they are already asking to come back next year.”