While retracing steps from his early Academy days with Manchester City, McAtee met one young person who has benefited from the new use of the facilities at Platt Lane.
After learning more about the current use of the site, as well as City Kicks sessions, McAtee told CITC how important he believes these programmes are for young people in Greater Manchester.
He said: “I got to just play football all day.
“It’s good that there is this facility and City Kicks to get them [young people] out here and playing some football.
“I think it’s [City Kicks] definitely something that I would have loved if I was not so lucky to have somewhere to come and play football.”
City Kicks has supported hundreds of thousands of young people to achieve their potential and improve their wellbeing through free weekly football sessions and educational workshops.
The programme creates opportunities for young people who are at risk of anti-social behaviour, youth violence and/or from high-need areas to regularly engage in football, sport, mentoring and personal development opportunities.
One Kicks participant Laighton commented on what City Kicks has done for him saying: “I’ve been able to improve my physical fitness through coming to this.
“My confidence has improved from making bonds with coaches and from socialising with friends in football.
“I have been more engaged in activities as I was not a confident person but being able to gain it has helped me. I used to have a hard time communicating with people but I have been able to cope with it and overcome that.”
From September to December 2024 CITC delivered 91 City Kicks sessions, engaging with 718 unique participants.
City Kicks began in the 2006/07 season in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and the Premier League with the aim of involving and supporting young people in regular, positive, and fun activity, whilst helping to create stronger, safer, more inclusive communities.
To date, the Premier League has invested almost £81.6 million in Kicks nationally.
Since it began, more than 520,000 young people have participated in Premier League Kicks football and multi-sport sessions held at community venues across England and Wales, during more than one million hours of free sessions.
The programme started with four pilot clubs and is now run across more than 1,000 venues by 90 Premier League, English Football League and National League sides — all funded by the Premier League.
Thank you to the Premier League Charitable Fund for their support of CITC’s City Kicks sessions.
City in the Community empowers healthier lives with city youth through football.
To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/citc or follow @citcmancity.
