Meet Carl Bradley, the man behind the wonderful organisation called The Boot Room, which he founded with the goal of breaking down financial barriers in children’s sports.
Sports shoes of all sizes and suitable for all ages, are donated to The Boot Room, where they are cleaned up and taken to the next Boot Room session. At these sessions, children can try on as many pairs of boots as they like and leave with a pair of boots at no cost.
In his own words:
“The support we’ve had from local people, and from far and wide, has been absolutely unbelievable.
“When I was younger, my parents couldn’t afford to buy me brand new boots, so my coach gave me a pair that were a couple of sizes too big. That didn’t matter to me – what mattered was that I was playing the game I loved, and so that event really started the concept of The Boot Room in my mind.
“During our Boot Room sessions, the kids can try as many pairs of boots on as they like, and once they’ve found a pair that makes them feel happy and comfortable, then those boots become theirs.
“Initially, I was worried that people might be too proud to ask for boots, but that simply wasn’t the case.
“When I started this project, I wanted to focus on people local to me to begin with, and look after my local community. It was so important to me to go back to Briton Ferry where I grew up, and give the kids there the opportunities that I never had growing up.
“In the early days of the project, I was out every single night trying to raise awareness of what we were doing. I went to local football clubs, community events, training nights – everything you can think of to spread the word and help break down those financial barriers.
“The support from wider organisations and more well-known people has been amazing too – from The One Show to Michael Sheen. It’s been an incredible journey and one I hope continues for a long time!”