Hull City stars hold ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ coaching session for village schoolchildren

PARTNERSHIP: Representatives from Hull City and Quickline with children at Eastrington Primary School

By Rick Lyon, Co-Editor

Children at an East Yorkshire village primary school were put through their paces by Hull City players in a special coaching session.

The unique experience at Eastrington Primary School was made possible by the Tigers’ partnership with rural broadband provider Quickline.

Under the partnership, Quickline is collaborating with the club to deliver benefits to communities across the East Riding and Lincolnshire, where it operates.

Eastrington Primary, near Goole, was selected as one of the schools to benefit from the collaboration, with City players Matty Jacob and Liam Millar holding the coaching session for more than 20 pupils from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Supported by three coaches from the club’s charity partner, the Tigers Trust, the players held a number of football-themed competitive games designed to improve the children’s skills.

Year 6 pupil Connor, 11, said: “For me, it was a dream come true because I’m a huge fan. It was amazing to actually play with Hull City players.”

‘DREAM COME TRUE’: Hull City's Matty Jacob coaching children at Eastrington Primary School

Nine-year-old Penny, who is in Year 4, said: “It was really surprising to have Hull City players come here. A lot of us are big fans, and it was a lot of fun.”

Following the one-hour session in the school’s playground, pupils and their parents and carers were able to pose for photographs with the players and get their autographs.

Left-back Jacob said: “Footballers are seen as role models for young children, and if we’ve inspired just one of then to take up to game and be successful, that would be fantastic.”

Canadian international attacking midfielder Millar added: “It was a great session, and we had a lot of fun playing games with the kids. For any of them who aspire to be a professional footballer, I’d just tell them to follow their dream and believe in themselves.”

Hull City’s partnerships and hospitality manager Claire Burton said: “It’s hugely important for the club to support our local communities and our partners, like Quickline.

“For the children, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It was really, really special, and you could see how much it meant to them.”

Eastrington Primary only has five classes and a total of 113 pupils.

Deputy headteacher Rachael Kay said: “We’re only a small village school but it’s really important to us to inspire our children, and to show them that anything is possible.

“To have Hull City players here will have helped raise their aspirations, and we’d just like to say a huge thank you to Quickline for making it happen.”

Quickline, which is based in Willerby, provided the pupils with branded water bottles and frisbees after the session.

Sarah Lilleyman-Hall, social values and events manager at the company, said: “Activities like this are so important to Quickline because we really value the work we do in our communities.

“The children were so excited to train with the players and coaches, and it was lovely to see. For them to be able to play football in their playground with professionals of that level was incredible.”

‘A GREAT SESSION’: Liam Millar putting the children through their paces

Quickline was last year awarded four Project Gigabit contracts to provide gigabit-capable broadband to 170,000 hard-to-reach premises across the whole of Yorkshire and the majority of Lincolnshire.

Project Gigabit is a government-funded programme enabling communities that would otherwise miss out on access to fast, reliable gigabit-capable broadband.

The partnership with Hull City is part of an extensive social value programme Quickline has committed to as part of the Project Gigabit contracts.

Along with community initiatives like the Eastrington Primary coaching session, the partnership also includes special giveaways, competitions and Hull City-themed events hosted by Quickline.