CITC spoke with Loli, who has been attending the City Play Together sessions at Moss Side Leisure Centre, with her son Kareem for the past two years.
When Kareem first joined the sessions, he had limited communication skills, struggled to speak to others during the sessions, and lacked confidence when interacting with other children.
However, through consistent engagement and support from City in the Community coaches, he developed these skills and has shown clear and meaningful progress across several areas, particularly in his communication, confidence, and social interaction.
Kareem now follows instructions from coaches well and fully engages with activities, giving him the skills he needs to take the next steps into nursery life.
Reflecting on their time at the City Play Together sessions, Loli said: “These sessions are so important.
“Compared to when we first joined two years ago, I have seen Kareem’s skills develop significantly.
“I get to see him build upon his confidence, develop how he communicates with other friends, as well as getting to watch his social skills and abilities improve.”
The City Play Together sessions are held at multiple locations across Greater Manchester, and encourage children aged two to five, and their parents, to live a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age.
Sitting under CITC’s Healthy Communities pillar, the sessions aim to develop skills, confidence and self-esteem when interacting with their child in any settings, at no charge to participants.
During the 2025/2026 season, the programme reached over 400 unique participants with an average of seven hours contact time.
To find out more about the programme, visit: mancity.com/cityplaytogether
City in the Community empowers healthier lives through football.
To find out more, visit www.mancity.com/citc or follow @citcmancity on social media.
If you want to support CITC and its participants, join the ‘City in the Community Club.’
From just £5 per month, you can enjoy monthly prize draws featuring once-in-a-lifetime Manchester City experiences and exclusive memorabilia, alongside a range of additional benefits.
Choose from four City in the Community Club tiers:
Bronze - £5 per month | 1 prize draw entry per month | 6 hours priority access to opportunities.
Silver - £10 per month | 3 prize draw entries per month | 12 hours priority access to opportunities.
Gold - £25 per month | 10 prize draw entries per month | 18 hours priority access to opportunities
Platinum - £50 per month | 25 prize draw entries per month | 24 hours priority access to opportunities.
