Boro defender David Wheater swapped the pitch for the park last Tuesday evening as the guest of honour at the launch of the latest Kickz initiative at Pallister Park Community Centre.
This latest initiative has been organised by Middlesbrough Football Club in the Community in partnership with Middlesbrough College and Coatham Memorial Boxing Club.
The aim is to reduce anti-social behaviour in the area by involving young girls in a range of activities, including football coaching and games, as well as providing health and educational support.
Tuesday's event featured professionals giving out self-defence tips and Boxercise. There were also hand and arm massages and beauty treatments such as free manicures provided by students from Middlesbrough College.
Wheater was treated to a hand and arm massage. Not wanting to offend any of the girls from Middlesbrough College, he made his selection by closing his eyes and pointing.
I wonder if Southgate does the same when picking his teams!
MFC's Diane O'Connell also enjoyed the treatment, whilst I was persuaded to allow one of the students to paint my nails a rather foxy red.
Wheater then posed with gaggles of girls for the kind of photos which will give his team mates licence to mock him mercilessly, but it was all for a good cause.
The Kickz project is a partnership between the Premier League, the Football Association, the Football League and the Football Foundation to create a youth social inclusion project. This latest initiative has been organised by Middlesbrough Football Club in the Community in partnership with Middlesbrough College and Coatham Memorial Boxing Club.
The initiative involves professional football clubs taking constructive activity into targeted local estates with high instances of anti-social behaviour (ASB). The club and delivery partners provide three sessions per week for forty-eight weeks of the year at times that have been identified with high levels of crime or ASB.
Rachel Newton, Youth Engagement worker for Middlesbrough in the Community, explained: "The girlfriends of the boys come down to watch them play football or box but if they don't want to do that there is nothing for them to do. This event is about opening up some more opportunities for them."
Speaking to TFM, Wheater said: "It's to get more girls involved. The boys come for the Kickz initiative and the girls just watch.
"It is nice to come down and get involved, and I got a hand massage. It was alright!
"If I wasn't playing football I'd probably be doing things like this so it's nice to do it. The lads don't mind doing things for the community."
And on the pitch?
"We've definitely had some hard games. We have been playing well but not putting chances away and we need to start doing that and winning games.
"We've had more chances than the other teams but we are not putting them away."
He also expressed sympathy for his young team mate Josh Walker, saying: "I feel terrible for him, he's waited years for his opportunity and then he gets injured. He tried to play on and may have aggravated it. Maybe he should have not played on but he was fantastic when he was on the pitch and hopefully he'll get back in."
Although there is a rota system and players are also 'matched' to events, David Wheater is the go-to man for community events. If a player can't make it (when they have been injured and may need extra training for example) Wheater will often volunteer his services at short notice.
I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr Wheater on a number of occasions and as ever, he was in high spirits, monitoring my biscuit intake and winding me up about trying to take shorthand down without smudging my freshly painted nails!
Having bopped me on the head 'in greeting', Wheater decided he would stick around to answer my questions after all.
DW: Right, go on then!
EB: Okay, you said the team is playing well and presumably trying to fix mistakes in training. What keeps going wrong?
DW: It's just not going for us on the pitch at the moment. We are training well and the strikers put them away every time in training.
EB: So why do you think that it is not translating on to the pitch? Is it a question of confidence?
DW: I don't know, maybe Afonzo might have been lacking in confidence but he scored two against Barrow and again against Sunderland so hopefully he will build on that and will score us more goals.
EB: Big games coming up against West Brom and then Chelsea and our small squad is getting even smaller through injuries. Does that worry you or do you try not to think about it and just do your job on the pitch?
DW: I try not to think about it! No, we always seem to get injuries no matter how big the squad is. But it gives the young lads a chance. Josh [Walker] has come in and was great. Obviously he's injured himself now but we do have the young lads who can cover.
Diane O'Connell brought an armful of 'player cards' for Wheater to sign but he carries on chatting easily:
DW: "I can multi-task. I'm like a woman like that, I can do lots of things at once!
EB: Not like Taylor!
DW: (suggestively) How do you know?!
EB: Not like that! He just got a bit confused last time I interviewed him.
Anyway, on a more positive note, who do you really enjoy playing against, teams or players?
DW: I really like playing against the top teams because you want to play against good players.
"Man United are my favourites because it is great at Old Trafford. It is a fantastic stadium and you run out to seventy-five thousand fans, you can't get better than that."
It is worth noting here that Mr Wheater has, in the past, confessed to being a bit of a 'glory supporter' in his mis-spent youth - he was a closet Man United fan as a child. However, his parents are die-hard Boro fans and they soon put a stop to that nonsense!
EB: Man United, okay, any particular player?
DW: Wayne Rooney. He brings the best out of you because he's quick and he definitely doesn't let you off with anything!
EB: While we are sort of on the subject, what did you make of Ferguson's comments about fixtures going against United?
DW: It's the same for everyone. I think he was just playing the game, trying to get a rise and Benitez had a pop back so it worked. I think he'll be happy with that, it's all mind games.
There's always mind games between the top teams.
Despite his brief flirtation with supporting the Champions, Wheater really is 'one of our own'. Long may he wear a Boro shirt, and a couple of goals like those he got last season wouldn't go amiss either...
First published on www.ComeOnBoro.com on 16/1/2009
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