Spalding Football Club Under 15s team take on ‘emotional’ 18-mile walk and raise more than £1,000 for charity

Dedicated teenagers took part in an ‘emotional’ 18 mile-walk and raised more than £1,000 for a good cause — and they are now looking forward to tackling bigger challenges in the future.

Spalding United football coach Lee Black, of Weston Hills, and the under 15s team tested themselves on one of the hottest days of the year, to complete an 18 mile walk around Rutland Water near Oakham.

Following the signing of the club’s new 25-year lease in August, the team wanted to raise money towards the investment in the facilities at the Sir Halley Stewart Playing Field.

Lee said: “Every year I try and get our team to do a fundraising activity for a good cause. After Spalding United received its lease, the club wanted all hands on deck to raise money for equipment and other bits.

“We thought we would do it for them this year and half of what we raised went towards our team and the other half went towards maintenance equipment.

“This was definitely our hardest fundraiser yet. Around 30 members from the team took part, as well as some parents.

“A couple of the parents suffered with health issues a few years ago and they didn’t think they would be able to do anything like that again, so it made it quite emotional at the end.”

After previously walking 10 miles and raising £800 for charity, the under 15s team was motivated to do something bigger.

Lee added: “I have coached kids football for many years. Lots of us thought the boys would lose focus and start fighting or arguing but they proved us wrong and even started running – it was really good.

“We raised £1,160 and in total we have raised around £5,000 for different charities over the years. I am really proud, more so for the boys.

“We could just be a normal football team that trains on a Thursday and plays on a Sunday, but I think it is really important that these boys and girls can grow up to be better human beings and all have an understanding of how important things like these are.

“After our walk, one of the boys suggested tackling the Yorkshire three peaks next time. They want to push themselves even more so I am really proud of them, especially in a generation of PlayStations and Xboxes – it’s good to see them doing this and putting in the effort to attend training a little bit earlier to put the hours in.”