Regional MDT Community Champions Exchange was a big success!

Regional MDT Community Champions Exchange was a big success!

On Friday 26 January, youngsters from RKC Waalwijk, Willem II and NAC Breda met in Waalwijk for a regional MDT Community Champions exchange. The successful exchange in Waalwijk ended not only with many smiling faces, new experiences and skills, but above all with new connections between the young people from the different clubs in Brabant.

Freestyler Nasser El Jackson opened the afternoon with a game of Panna football, challenging participants from RKC Waalwijk, Willem II and NAC Breda. Fanatically, the youngsters took up the challenge against Nasser, resulting in a number of “unexpected pannas”.

After Nasser’s starting signal, the youngsters took part in three exciting workshops, each focusing on both sporting and personal skills. In wheelchair basketball, for instance, participants were challenged to improve their agility and teamwork, which also focused on inclusion and understanding others.

In the football party form, the emphasis was on cooperation and experiencing unity on the pitch, regardless of club background. And finally, the Freestyle Football workshop offered room for creativity, with the youngsters working on their own under Nasser’s guidance to learn new moves and tricks.

Community Champions

Community Champions uses the appeal of professional football in the Netherlands, eight professional football clubs from the Eredivisie and the Keuken Kampioen Divisie, and the social power of football to reach and engage young people in a unique football-based MDT programme. The opportunity for the young people not only to be involved in the club and the neighbourhood but also to become a true ambassador for ‘their’ club has a status-enhancing effect, which plays into the social circles the young people are in.

Within Community Champions, participating young people not only get the chance to give something back to their own neighbourhood or district, but by participating in workshops and organising neighbourhood contributions, they can also earn points in the Community Champions competition. This competition ultimately determines who is the Community Champion of the Netherlands.