Scotland Manager Visits Street Soccer Scotland Training Session

National team manager Gordon Strachan has shown his support for a nationwide programme that uses the power football to promote positive change in the lives of socially disadvantaged adults and young people across Scotland.

Street Soccer Scotland (SSS), an award winning social enterprise, delivers a wide range of initiatives in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen all aimed improving health, employability, training and social inclusion.

Gordon Strachan visited one of SSS’s regular football training drop-in sessions at Powerleague in Glasgow and met twenty four regular participants in the SSS programme.

David Duke, chief executive of Street Soccer Scotland, said: “The benefits of visits from people with the stature of Gordon Strachan cannot be understated.  The players get an enormous boost when players and managers come to see what we do and there isn’t a bigger name in Scottish football at the moment than Gordon Strachan.  He is well known for his infectious enthusiasm and positive outlook and everyone at our session today left with a piece of that.  He’s also a great motivator and the time he took to meet chat and he gave will make an enormous difference to us all.  Gordon is welcome back any time!”

Projects run by SSS include:

• The Street Soccer Challenge Series, run in partnership with Quality Meat Scotland (Scotch Beef).  The biggest event series ever run by SSS uniting teams and players from across Scotland through regular 5-a-side tournaments and providing access to information on health, personal development and employment & training.
• ‘Football Works’, set up through a partnership between Dunedin Canmore Group offering ‘early intervention’ support to bridge the gap between mainstream employability support services to 500 adults and young people over three years.
• Scotland’s Homeless World Cup, selection and management of Scotland’s men’s and women’s teams at the Homeless World Cup events