Youngsters discover more about balanced diets | EFL Day of Action 2021

Following months of lockdown and home schooling, Mansfield Town Football in the Community delivered a Healthy Eating workshop last week – helping to combat fears that children’s eating habits had deteriorated as a result of lockdown.

The session saw participants mix age groups to discover more about the five major food groups and what foods they may commonly find in their lunchboxes, fit into which group.

Assistant Community Manager Jordan Ferrer said “The children took to the session really well and worked really well together – every single child took something away from it in terms of knowledge which will no doubt have a long term effect with their eating habits when they return to school.

“We decided to turn it into a game where each team had a food group, they had to dribble the ball into the middle and search through an array of food items to find one specific to their nominated group before dribbling it back and seeing the next player go.

“It worked really well and had an effect on communication skills as well, with participants discussing if a food would fit into their group – and especially at the end when we did the round up, the children had lots of questions and really wanted to find out more about foods and how they impact on the body.”

The session follows on from Mansfield Town Football in the Community’s wider campaign, working with Wynndale Primary Scholl on a Healthy Eating project prior to the half-term break, supported by Mansfield Town goalkeeper Aidan Stone.

Ferrer, who is also PL Primary Stars coordinator, added “Having Aidan support our work with the School was a brilliant addition – teachers and coaches can talk endless about diet, but to hear an athlete, someone they recognise and look up to, helps them to take in the information and makes it relatable.

“The children were really inquisitive and the teachers were blown away by how much information they took in and how much they wanted to learn more – a lot of the children for days after were talking about the changes they’d made to their lunchboxes and really understood why eating certain foods at certain times could be beneficial.

“We’re now looking at offering the project out to other schools as part of our PHSE offering – any schools interested should contact me via email, Jordan.ferrer@mansfieldtownfitc.net

Supporters who subscribe to the clubs iFollow platform, can watch the Zoom call with Aidan Stone now.