Syngenta part of worldwide CP football coaching session

The Zoom link-up put the young players – including Charlie Wright from Falkirk – in contact with coaches from around the world.

Syngenta, based at The Falkirk Stadium but renowned from Grangemouth, offers the only cerebral palsy football team in Scotland and had been planning an international football festival this summer.

Instead players from the team, who hail from across central Scotland, headed online with 2200 others live - and another 1000 have caught up watching the video session re-runs.

Rab Mullin, team coach, told The Falkirk Herald: “It was great to see the kids with a ball at their feet again.”

Players from as far apart as Bangladesh and Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Botswana and Singapore joined in to the session which ran at 2pm UK time.

At home in Falkirk St Andrew’s RC primary pupil Charlie (12) set up a set of skill stations around the garden to take part in the session including baskets for target practice and hoops for goals in each top corner.

The youngster was joined by team-mates Rhys Aitken from West Lothian, Darren Bowman in Aberdeen, Hanna Bjerland from Stirlingshire and Rhys McLeod from Perthshire on the interactive video call run from the USA by CP Soccer coach Ashley Hammond.

The Syngenta players have been out of action for months and welcomed the chance to get together, virtually, to practise together.

Coach Rab added: “We had a trip to Newcastle and then one training session and have been off since then so this was an opportunity to see friends again because we have players spread all over Scotland.”