Community Officer, Stephen Hoyle and his team have been busy in our local area doing their part to keep young people, happy, healthy and involved.
Recently they have been building on a ‘Streetball’ initiative this term at Point England, Gen Taylor and Sylvia Park school.
ESAFC are out there with a crew of premier players helping out: Adam Thomas, Francis De Vries, Juliette Lucas, Kelvin Kalua, Charlotte Wilford-Carroll and Tyler Lissette.
The aim is to provide an opportunity for kids to simply play by running an abundance of fun games and drills.
Meanwhile, on Saturday mornings, they run Hoka O Tamaki at Pt England Reserve. This is where 40-60 kids come down to play for free.
In May, Hoyle had over 500 kids from the Tamaki school cluster down at Madills enjoying a festival of football – an event we’ve run over the past 4 years.
Hoyle told us what it means to be involved in the community: “It’s a really rewarding job where you get to make connections with good people locally.
“It’s fulfilling when I see something that we’ve organised or delivered come to life.”
“I want to build relationships with local schools, clubs and organisations and grow the number of people taking part in football in our area.
“I also want people to have a smile on their face when they hear our name or see the Lilly white logo.”
Hoyle said, being one of the biggest clubs in New Zealand, we’re involved in the community.
“We have a responsibility to raise the profile of football and get more people playing in our local area specially those who haven’t had a lot to do with football before.
“Maybe they will fall in love with the beautiful game!”
