Crawley Foundation: World Mental Health Day 2024: Move the Goalposts

Move the Goalposts is one of Crawley Town’s Community Foundations Mental Health programmes, which aims to provide a safe and welcoming environment to adults aged 18+ as part of our relaxed footballing program - all abilities, ages, and people welcome free of charge.

One female participant who started attending our Move the Goalposts session said she aimed to join the programme to “Meet new people and enjoy exercise” after hearing about the program on Instagram. Being one of a few females who attended at the time, the participant was initially a little anxious and shy about taking on the new challenge at a busy session, with a wide range of ages and individuals from a range of backgrounds.

She loved taking part in the warmups at the beginning of each session - a key part of what we do to help get people back into sport who have, or feel at risk, of developing mental health problems. She would always take part with a smile and gradually became more involved in all aspects of the session. As weeks progressed, the participant's involvement in the session grew massively, becoming a real key team player her peers began to trust and get to know - without realising, she was inspiring a few other participants at the time showing a real involvement in the game highlighting the inclusive ethos of Move the Goalposts being a safe and welcoming space for all genders- and challenging stereotypes which is exactly what Move the Goalposts is about.

After attending, she spread the word and now attends sessions with her cousins and has been a real crucial part of the session as it has begun to grow over the past few months- our female involvement in the programme has grown 10% over the last few months and we believe role models such as this attendee are the reason behind this.

One of our Foundation Coaches said, “She has become a real part of our Move the Goalposts provision each week, her confidence, involvement, and self-esteem has really improved, and it is great to see a wide range of people take part and see the benefits Football and Physical activity has on everyone’s mental and physical health first hand.”

Our regular attendee leaves the session feeling happier and healthier and continually looks forward to attending the session each week. Saying “I would recommend Move the Goalposts, because it's somewhere you can forget your worries through exercise and meeting new people.”

This participant is just one of the many we engage with every Wednesday at the Broadfield Stadium. If this sounds like something you would like to get involved with, please go to the Foundation’s website at www.ctcommunityfoundation.com or call 01293410000 ext2