Great start to the new year with the start of the Winning Mentality Initiative football session at the Arc Leisure Centre in Matlock

In partnership with the Derbyshire Federation for Mental Health, Derby County in the Community have commenced a new football session as part of the Winning Mentality Initiative.

Derby County in the Community and the New Football Pools launched a new Mental Health Football Initiative called the Winning Mentality in October 2009. The New Football Pools presented Derby County in the Community with £60,000 to fund the Winning Mentality Initiative, an exciting mental health football initiative that will grow provision across the county. This initiative's aim is to use football as a tool to help young men who suffer from mental health distress to improve their health, participate in sport and become part of a team, reducing any social isolation they might feel.

As a first session with the group, Sam Turner (Disability Football Development Officer) and Charlie Bates, both from Derby County in the Community, took the group through their paces with a warm up activity and then got the players straight into a game.

“It was great to see 11 players turning up to the first session and all really keen to get playing. Steve Walker, Derbyshire Federation for Mental Health, has done a fantastic job recruiting the players and his enthusiasm is a great asset to the project. The Winning Mentality Initiative goes from strength to strength, even with funding coming to an end in summer 2012, we continue to work with our partners to make it a success.”

To find out about the new session based at the Arc Leisure Centre in Matlock please contact Steve Walker:

01629 733915 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it