Award-winning charity Sport Aberdeen’s Active Schools team has recently joined the Kit for All project – a sportscotland nationwide initiative.

Kit for All aims to reduce and remove any participation barriers in sport and physical activity by providing recycled and pre-loved sports kits to individuals and families who could benefit from the support.

Not only does this help to make sport and physical activity more accessible to more people, it benefits the environment through reduced waste.

Currently, the drop-off and collection points for pre-loved kit are Get active @ Northfield, Get active @ Alex Collie, Decathlon (Union Square), Goals Aberdeen (Inverdee Playing Fields), Strikers Indoor Football (Bridge of Don) and Ian Wilson Soccer Coaching events. 

Children and families can access items through a member of the Active Schools team, the school community or by scanning the QR displayed on posters at drop-off points. Alternatively, individuals can go directly to a collection point and access the item(s) they require.

Active Schools works with every primary and secondary school in Aberdeen – aiming to encourage more children to be more active, more often. The team will encourage kit drives within schools and will help to facilitate kit delivery.    

It is hoped that the Kit for All movement will continue to grow and be as accessible as possible to the children, young people and wider community of Aberdeen.

One young person was so delighted to receive a pair of football boots, commenting: “Mercurials… hell yeah!”

Another young person remarked: “I find it really good to have the boots and also new kit I can wear to PE. Now that I have this it means I can play football with my friends after school, at least when the weather is good!”

The Active Schools team is so appreciative of the donations received so far, particularly the generous contribution of an entire rail of sale clothing from Sports Direct gifted anonymously.    

Individuals who have the capacity to donate are strongly encouraged to do so. Donations of sports clothing such as trainers, gym shoes, shorts, leggings, tracksuit bottoms, tops, jumpers and t-shirts would be very welcome. All items should be washed and labelled with size information and must be good quality.

Graeme Dale, Head of Sport and Active Communities, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Kit for All project and a huge thanks to everyone who has donated so far.

“At Sport Aberdeen, we are passionate about helping more children and young people to get active and it is great that this project allows pre-loved items of sports clothing to be reused.”

Blair Bowie, Coach and Owner at Ian Wilson Soccer Coaching, said: “The Kit for All project has been a fantastic project for Ian Wilson Soccer Coaching to be a part of and aligns well with our values. We are pleased that the donations from our parents, children and coaches can play a small part in helping others to access sport and make sport more inclusive.”

Pauline Smith, Director at Strikers Indoor Football, said “Strikers is delighted to be able to participate in this worthwhile initiative and look to encourage all our indoor facility users to contribute their pre-loved kit in support of others in our community. We wish this ongoing venture continued success.”

To find out more about Kit for All, email kitforall@sportaberdeen.co.uk or visit Sport Aberdeen’s website here.