Danny Grainger nominated as Community Champion
We are delighted to announce that Danny Grainger was nominated as the PFA Community Champion and Carlisle United Community Player of the Season for the 2014/15 campaign.
A statement submitted to both organisations as part of the nomination reads as follows:
Danny Grainger lives locally and has actively sought to be involved with local football groups, community groups and community initiatives, all of which have been of great benefit to all parties concerned.
He gave up midweek evenings throughout the season to lead coaching sessions with the Penrith AFC under-11 age group. This included full training with the boys and covered a wide range of skills and activities. The team appreciated the input from a professional player and commented regularly on how valuable they found the sessions to be.
Danny said: “I went along to one session and it all took off from there. The lads were excited to see me and they were all really interested in what I had to say. I found the evenings to be of great value and I am delighted that it went down so well.”
Danny played a huge part in making a new scheme – The Carlisle United School Ambassador Scheme – a success. The scheme linked players directly with local schools and they carried out a variety of visits, through the course of the season, where they helped the children with arts and crafts, english, mathematics and general school projects. The local press took interest in the scheme and commented regularly on how impressive the link-up was.
Danny Grainger said: “The club brought the School Ambassador scheme together and I think it’s fair to say all of the players were more than happy to get on board with it. It’s always good to see the excitement when the kids know players are coming in to help, but they probably helped us more than we helped them in the end! It was a great scheme to be part of and hopefully it will continue into next season.”
In summary, Danny Grainger has been a model professional and an excellent role model throughout the season. As team captain he has led by example with his community work and countless numbers of children have benefitted from his participation. His work with the Penrith AFC under 11 football team took up a lot of personal time, but he was keen to take this over and make it a regular event.
He has stood out as Carlisle United Football Club’s community champion through what has been a very busy season of community appearances and projects for the team.
