Creating Chances Places for Players 2008/09

'Places for Players' is the Premier League’s high profile initiative that uses Premier League stars to highlight the diversity and sheer quantity of community work being carried out by the 20 Barclays Premier League clubs.

Club Website are keeping you up to date with 'Places for Players' visits right here in The Club House. This month we've got stars from Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion and Middlesbroough.

Gomes visit provides a night to remember

Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes made it a night to remember for a group of Enfield youngsters in February, when he paid a special visit to a youth club run by Enfield Children and Young Persons Services at the Alan Pullinger Centre, Southgate. His appearance was part of the club's commitment to Premier League community initiative Creating Chances, which will see Enfield Children and Young Persons Services awarded £3,000 towards the running of the youth club.

Brazilian international Gomes, 27, met the young attendees on the night and took part in the range of activities on offer, including table football, air hockey and a Nintendo Wii contest.

Coaches from the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation were also present on the night to provide football activities. Gomes said: "It was an enjoyable night and it's important for me and the players to take time out to support local initiatives and meet young fans. The club's community work is noticeable and I saw for myself on the night the effect the positive effect it has on young people."

The youth club is aimed at providing social inclusion for young people aged 12 to 19, many of whom are disabled and/or vulnerable and is run in partnership with Enfield disability group, DAZU.

Gomes is just one of the many Tottenham Hotspur first team players to take their time to show support for local good causes and initiatives over the course of the football season.

Baggies back school project

Three West Bromwich Albion players received top marks in February after going back to school. Jonas Olsson, Neil Clement and up-and-coming midfielder Graham Dorrans showed their support for the club's 'ground-breaking, diverse and substantial' partnership with a Sandwell school.

The trio met pupils and took part in activities at St Michael's Church of England High School in Rowley Regis, with whom the Baggies' Community Programme work hand-in-hand to deliver a wide range of education and sports-based activities for all pupils, including disability groups.

One of the scheme's main triumphs is Albion's Double Club project, which is delivered by Community Programme teacher John Jones in a Baggies-branded classroom. Jones helps pupils who need additional support with literacy and numeracy make progress via football-based learning.

Community Programme and St Michael's staff have also joined forces to set up a 'School Supporters' Club', where pupils can give up their lunchtime to run a satellite ticket office on the club's behalf, selling discounted Albion match tickets to fellow school-mates.

Centre-half Clement, the club's current longest-serving player, said: "Albion have always taken a big interest in community work - I don't think I've seen a club do as much as we do. I would have loved to have had players coming in to see us when I was at school and I hope we helped to encourage the pupils with their studies."

Albion's Assistant Community Programme Director, Jamie Bunch, said: "We believe our ground-breaking, diverse and substantial partnership with St Michael's is a great example of how a football club can benefit a school community. The players' visit merely reinforced our commitment to the partnership and also encouraged pupils with their studies. The School Supporters' Club is a win-win project because it gives pupils real-life business experience while helping the football club reach out to our next generation of supporters."

To read more about the Albion players' visit, click here.

Boro creating chances for Multiple Sclerosis centre

Three Middlesborough FC stars enjoyed lessons in yoga, reflexology and aromatherapy when they paid a visit to a local MS Therapy Centre in February.

Robert Huth, Julio Arca and Chris Riggott called in at the centre, with which Boro has long-term links as players have often used its oxygen chamber – a deep-sea diving bell - for the treatment of injuries in past years.

Opened in 1985, the centre is a major boon to local sufferers of multiple sclerosis, a disabling neurological condition which affects messages sent from the brain to other parts of the body. It is used on a regular basis by almost 300 members, mainly from Teesside but also from as far afield as Newcastle and Scarborough.

Michael Horsley, the centre’s development manager, said: “The centre is a lifeline and a godsend for many people, as they not only to use the different therapies but also as a social support group.

“The nearest centres from Middlesbrough are in Leeds and Edinburgh, so there’s a huge number of people who can benefit but perhaps don’t even know about our centre. Apart from many MS sufferers, we get referrals for those suffering from various illnesses including cancer patients.”

Through Creating Chances, Boro and the Premier League also donated £4,000 to the centre, money that is helping to build a new website, pay for information leaflets and redecorate the centre. Boro players have previously made Creating Chances community appearances in support of Billingham’s Community Integrated Care and MFC in the Community’s Enterprise Academy, Entry to Employment and Micro Soccer schemes.

Boro also chose to donate £4,000 to each of Community Integrated Care, the local branches of Samaritans and Guide Dogs for the Blind, plus Teesside charities, the Breakaway Children’s Fund and the George Hardwick Foundation.

Club Website will continue to keep you informed of news from the 'Creating Chances' programme in the the future. In the meantime, if you wish to find out more about the Premier League's other 'Creating Chances' initiatives, visit:

www.premierleague.com/page/creatingchances

'Places for Players' words and images courtesy of the Premier League.