15:30, 11 November 2016
| by Katie Newton
Reds stars help kids ‘Move with Manchester United’
The United duo joined a Move With Manchester United session, part of a 10-week course for primary school children, which teaches fundamental exercises such as balancing, hopping and skipping.
Jones and Fosu-Mensah took part in a series of games with the children, which included throwing balls into a bucket and balancing beanbags on various parts of the body.
Fosu-Mensah, who has recently signed a new four-year contract with the club, enjoyed his first visit to a Foundation project. “It was a very nice day with the kids and it’s nice to see them smile,” he said. “In Holland when I was young we never had a football team visit our school so what Manchester United Foundation does is fantastic and I’m sure the kids love it.”
Five-year-old pupil Elouise loved meeting the footballers: “I enjoyed the class because it was exercise; we learnt new things and we got to meet the football players. They were really fun and helped us in our teams – I was on Tim’s team and we won the game.”
Move With Manchester United is funded through the Premier League's Primary Stars programme and aims to improve children’s agility, balance and coordination with the focus on pupils becoming confident and competent movers.
Project delivery officer Sam Fitton explained, “It’s important for kids to learn the different movements from a younger age so they pick up skills more easily as they get older and it will help with other sports such as football.
“Seeing the players has a huge impact on the pupils; it inspires them to get into sport and get active, maybe join clubs, not necessarily at an elite level but just becoming more active. That one moment of meeting a player might just change their life.”
Click here to find out more about Move With Manchester United.