On Sunday 24th March a group of students studying on the Sports Connect NCS – More 4 24 project, along with family and friends, were invited to travel up to The Valley, home of Charlton Football Club.

The group were invited to attend a once in a lifetime experience which started with a trip to The Valley club shop where the group also bumped into the Charlton Mascot and had their first selfie of the afternoon.

When they arrived at the stadium they were greeted and shown to the Charlton TV lounge and were treated to a Q&A session with sports broadcaster, Charlotte Richardson and special guests. The group got to hear about the journey and experiences from both Charlotte herself, as well as guest speakers who have all gained influential roles in and around football through different pathways.

They heard from guest speakers Natasha Everitt, who is Social Media Assistant for Talk Sport, Natalie Curtis, who is the Academy Manager at London City Lionesses, Lucy Bailey, who is the Women and Girls Development Officer at Charlton Community Trust and Louise McGring, who is the General Manager, Charlton Women.

Each speaker gave a unique insight into how they have developed into their career pathways and gave advice and top tips for possibilities to the students to use in the future.

After the Q&A, the students were treated to a corporate lunch experience within the lounge before heading off to the directors seating area where they were treated to Charlton Vs London City Lionesses. At half time, a few of the girls were selected to go to pitch side and share their experiences from the NCS programme in a half time interview with Charlotte, in front of a Valley record crowd of over 1,300 fans!

They then got to watch the remainder of a fantastic match where London City made a second half come back to take away the 3 points from Charlton, finishing the game 2-1 winners in time added on.

Despite the loss the students got the opportunity to meet and greet some of the players, including the Charlton Women’s team who came up to the lounge area after the game to meet the fans, take selfies and sign autographs, including a Charlton rubber duck!

The day was a fantastic success and the group not only enjoyed a fantastic day out but they were all an absolute pleasure to take along. A big thank you to Charlotte Richardson, Charlton Football club and everyone who made the day such a success.

NCS/ Sports Connect/ Bayliss Coaches / Charlotte Richardson / Tash Everitt/ Natalie Curtis/ Lucy Bailey/ Louise McGing/ / Charlton Athletic FC hospitality team /Ashley from catering services and Kieran & James at CAFC