The youngsters have joined the club’s Corporate Social Responsibility programme for the first time
Villarreal CF’s second year youngsters are now part of Endavant Igualtat. The Submarine’s Corporate Social Responsibility project, whereby each of the Yellows’ academy teams works with an association in our province and shows support for their cause, began until this season with the U13 teams, that is, when they made the leap to 11-a-side football. However, the main new feature of the project this season is the inclusion of the two U12 sides.
The players, who are playing their last season on the 8-a-side football pitches, share their time with the users of the Maria de Luna Early Intervention Centre in Vila-real. After a first contact with the project in general and with the centre in particular, the youngest members of Endavant Igualtat are now fully immersed in it. Their last joint activity took place in the playroom of the Estadio de la Cerámica.
The María de Luna Centre is dedicated to helping “children with some neurodevelopmental alteration or with some difficulty at birth or later” with the idea of “getting them out of their usual routine and activating those areas of their evolutionary development that are a little altered and it is a way of getting them out of the usual centre or school intervention”, according to the psychologist and coordinator of the centre, Cristina García.
Cristina has been one of the counsellors for the Submarine’s youngsters, who needed to know the activities in depth before starting them. “During the year we’ve been spending time with the professionals from this centre, we’ve visited it, and they’ve also come to the Training Ground to give us training sessions”, says Paco Peris, the coach of the U12s (Alevín A), who is proud because “the kids are very involved and are taking part in the activities.”
A new but enriching experience
This new relationship for both parties, as the centre is also making its debut in Endavant Igualtat, is proving to be very positive for all involved, starting with the Yellows Academy’s promising young players. “We are having a very good relationship with them because they are kids like us, but they have certain difficulties and we try to help them overcome them when they grow up. We’re having a good time and we’re getting to know them more and more,” says Dani Adel, one of the young players.
As his namesake Dani Serrano explains, “they come out of their environment and we come out of ours. Being here is not just about football. It’s a beautiful experience and something to talk about because you don’t get to experience it every day. We are the first in Endavant Igualtat and it’s pretty cool to take this step.”
For her part, the centre’s coordinator believes that “it is a very enriching experience.” as “if they come to our centre they are in individual sessions with our therapist and one of the reasons for doing this activity with Villarreal is that the families get to know each other and that the children can be with older children, who are the footballers.” In this way, García continues, “they get used to playing with other people who are not therapists or family members”.
Endavant Igualtat is a project promoted by Villarreal CF that is committed to the education and personal development of grassroots football players. The main teams of Yellows Academy and Villarreal Women support different special centres in the province of Castellón, with the added objective of helping members in their personal growth and with a sensitivity to the needs and difficulties of others, sharing their experiences with them in an enriching exchange of values that promotes and favours the growth of both parties.
