Through the Healthy Goals initiative, Melbourne City FC’s partnership with Barton Primary School in Cranbourne West reached new heights last month with the donation of new football goals and the appearance of City superstars Laura Hughes and Alessandro Lopane.
City Football Group’s global Healthy Goals initiative aims to promote physical health and overall well-being by providing safe spaces for sports participation among young people in local communities.
The donation of goals to Barton Primary School aligns with the first of City in the Community’s (CITC) three primary focuses for the Healthy Goals initiative in 2024: to support local schools with facility improvements to ensure greater access to CITC’s free football programming.
CITC has been involved with Barton for the past three years, with previous initiatives including walking football, invitations for students to be match day mascots, and player visits.
CITC’s Community Program Lead, Stephen Frantzeskakis, expressed his content with how the goals donation will be able to positively impact and contribute to the school.
“I think it’s fantastic that we’re able to continue supporting Barton Primary School and its students through the Healthy Goals initiative, especially given their strong interest and ongoing passion for football.”
Stephen also elaborated on the strong partnership that Melbourne City FC holds with the school.
“We’ve been working with Barton Primary School for a number of years now and have also recently run our respectful relationships program with Grade 5 and 6 students.
“To have strong role models like Ale and Laura come down to speak to students about topics like respect and resilience is terrific, and it’s great to be able to extend our partnership through the donation of new goals as well.”
Principal of Barton Primary School, Benjamin Vevers, spoke of the positive impact that the latest step in CITC’s partnership with his school would have on students.
“Given many of our students were born or have parents and families from other countries, the school is truly passionate about the world game and having new goals means our kids get to fully experience a quality soccer match every recess and lunch.
“It was a memorable experience that may inspire some of our students to reach for the stars with football, maybe even the Brisbane Olympics!”
The Barton principal also noted the influence of sport as a vehicle for engagement in the school environment, a focus of the Healthy Goals program, saying:
“Our students are learning to be more respectful of each other during competitive sport, girls are becoming more active during breaks playing soccer, and students are super excited each week for the program.”
The donation as part of the Healthy Goals initiative embodies what City in the Community’s ethos is all about – using football to get young people active in their local community.
