Mark Thomas, social inclusion lead at Oxford United in the Community, reflects on another successful year for the charity’s inclusion football team.

Since its creation over three decades ago, Oxford United in the Community has prided itself on inspiring people to realise their true potential by harnessing the power of football.

That’s regardless of an individual’s background, ability, age or gender – the positive impact football can have on people might be more widespread than you think.

Take our inclusion football squad for example. Delivered in partnership with Abingdon and Witney College, the inclusion team has been instrumental in supporting adults who live with a learning difficulty and might struggle to integrate into communities.

The programme provides a platform for participants to form lifelong friendships, develop football skills, improve their mental health and build confidence in areas which apply both on and off the pitch.

This season – our first full term following the programme’s launch in January 2023 – has been especially pleasing. Naturally, when delivering a football-based programme, outcomes can be focused on deliverables on the pitch.

But, this season has highlighted numerous triumphs – particularly when you consider our players had never met 18 months ago and only had limited experience playing football. Since then, all players have bonded as a team and made significant progress technically, physically and socially. Their development is testament to the success of the programme and underlined what our inclusion squad aims to achieve.

Tangible outcomes included playing in in our first formal tournament at the Wiltshire FA’s Fest4All and in preparation for this they met club legend James Constable, who handed out Oxford United shirts.

We also celebrated our first anniversary by playing our first home fixture against Northampton Town. First team manager Des Buckingham welcomed each player and provided a motivational team talk with the local media present to conduct pre and post-match interviews too.

Off the pitch, our team attended Abingdon and Witney College’s first Adults with Learning Differences Conference.

It was an opportunity for Alex Blane and I to highlight the importance of the sessions to a range of local charities, representatives, councils and Thames Valley Police –who all shared valuable insights on how we can further support adults with learning differences.

Looking ahead, our third season will be kick off in September, with more fixtures and encouraging more adults to take part at the heart of our plans.

We’re forever grateful to our partners Abingdon and Witney College and Lee Humber, the college’s adults with learning differences coordinator.

His expertise has been invaluable in improving our sessions and fostering its growth.

For anyone wishing to learn more, in September we will deliver two sessions each Wednesday during term time at Abingdon and Witney College’s Abingdon Campus Sports Hall from 12:30pm to 3:30pm. Adults of all footballing abilities, regardless of prior experience, are welcome with two groups created to accommodate different skillsets.

The inclusion team’s second season has produced some unforgettable moments for our players while also helping to spread awareness of the programme.

To register your interest in Oxford United in the Community’s disability football sessions, please email [email protected].

Mark Thomas, social inclusion lead.