A few weeks back we hosted the Premier League Primary stars reward day where we had the Premier League trophy, three professional referees and the first team squad to join in with an afternoon of different activities.
On Thursday 4th April we hosted the Premier League Primary Stars day at the Globe Arena in association with the Lancaster and Heysham School Sports Network. This was a reward day for a select number of primary school pupils across the area; in total there were over 140 children and adults that attended the event with a total of 24 schools participating.
The reward day had 4 different workshops that everyone would get to go and experience running for around 40 minutes each. Workshop one was the Morecambe FC Ground Tour of the Globe Arena, here people got to see an in depth tour of the stadium, sitting in the team dugouts, taking a look into the home team dressing room and boot room, memorabilia on walls, club shop, hospitality boxes and also the boardroom.
The second workshop was a football quiz with one of the professional referees in attendance, we were lucky enough to have three that were their throughout the day to take part in various different activities. One of the referees that was at our reward day was Premier league professional Jeremy Simpson, Jeremy has been involved in some of the work that Community Sports have done in the past including the recent NCS project.
Another of the workshops was the outdoor team game sessions that were hosted on the pitch, Community Sports staff coached dodgeball and tag rugby to the children in 20 minute slots where they would take part in some fun games and build upon their current ability and knowledge of the two sports. Later on in the day several of the MFC first team players joined in with the dodgeball and tag rugby sessions to engage with the kids. It certainly seemed as though the players where enjoying it just as much as the children where.
The final workshop was the question and answer session with the Morecambe FC First teamers and one of the professional referees. Of course the main attraction of the day was the Premier League Trophy which we were lucky enough to have set up on the stage in the room, both children and players wanted their picture with the priceless trophy.
When asked about the reward day referee Jeremy Simpson commented, "I've lived round here all my life and most don't get to see the premier league trophy or FA Cup. It may be minor to some people but is massive to others to see something so prestigious and again this is one small step. The people here may never see the Premier League trophy so it is a massive opportunity for that to happen, again this may start it off for going to other places all around the country."
Morecambe FC right-back Zak Mills added, "It's exciting for us players and also the children, most of us won't see it again and I know if I was a younger lad then I'd definitely be impressed."
Championship referee Darren Bond also gave an interesting talk during one of the sessions where he spoke about his experiences of being a referee, different clubs he’s been to and some of the people that he’s had the opportunity of meeting.
Also set up in one of the rooms was a primary stars information desk organised by Schools Co-ordinator Jeremy Austin, here the teachers attending got the opportunity to read what it is all about and what sessions can be offered to schools in the area.
Community Sports manager Janet Preston added, "There are a lot of interested parties from the Premier League and professional referees, this is something that can be rolled out across other professional clubs. For us personally we hope that this will be an annual event and maybe next year we will be able to have a different trophy here and it's so great for the kids to be able to come and do that."
Overall the Premier League Primary Stars event was a great success and had some really positive feedback from those that attended.