The Michael Carrick Foundation funds Girls Without Boundaries project
Three year partnership with the Lancashire Cricket Foundation
On April 1 2019, the Michael Carrick Foundation will begin supporting the Girls Without Boundaries project, in a three year partnership with the Lancashire Cricket Foundation.
The project targets young women who are identified by their teachers as being at risk of becoming socially excluded from sport and physical activity, due to facing additional challenges at school and/or at home. By encouraging these young women to participate in exciting and challenging activities such as self-defence and dance, the project develops their physical and social confidence, within a collaborative and supportive environment.
A participant’s parent stated: “My daughter is going through a hard time and Girls Without Boundaries has kept her focused and inspired. She has grown in confidence, it has boosted her self-esteem and given her something to look forward to.”
The Lancashire Cricket Foundation developed the project in 2015 and has supported it since its inception. Despite running successfully for a number of years in Trafford, as a direct result of funding cuts, the project was due to come to an end on March 31. Having delivered 234 activity sessions to 337 young women from secondary schools in 2018, the prospect of letting Girls Without Boundaries come to an end was not something that the partners involved wanted to see happen.
Sandy Mitchell, Head of Community Growth for the Lancashire Cricket Foundation said: “The support from the Michael Carrick Foundation in developing this new exciting partnership has been essential in sustaining the project, building on the great work to date to engage, inspire and empower young women to become more physically active and socially confident and ultimately helping to grow the reach and impact over the next three years.”
The two Foundations are delighted to be working together to keep this fantastic project going, fitting perfectly with the vision of the Michael Carrick Foundation, to encourage young people to achieve their full potential.
Speaking at a recent event, Michael Carrick said: “We are thrilled to be committing to Girls Without Boundaries, helping provide girls aged between 11 and 15 years old with a safe place to develop and thrive. My wife Lisa visited the project in February and witnessed firsthand the amazing skills the girls were being taught. When we found out the funding was running out, we knew we had to step in. Having both a son and daughter, I believe in fairness and think it’s important the Foundation supports both genders equally. Our football projects mainly appeal to boys, so it seemed right we offered support to GWB.”