Shoot Tournament - Guns & Gangs

During the February half-term Local Leagues provided an inclusive sports and educational programme for 13-18 year olds from Birmingham by running a 6-a-side Football Tournament called Shoot.

Shoot took place on Barclays’ high quality astro turf pitches at Aston Park, just a stone’s throw from Villa Park – the home of Premiership giants Aston Villa F.C. Villa Park provided a suitable backdrop for the 24 teams who entered Shoot to showcase their undoubted talent.

The majority of teams came from the Aston area of Birmingham but some even travelled from Smethwick, Wolverhampton and as far a field as Leicester, highlighting the popularity and reach of the tournament.

The event was over subscribed and regrettably several teams were unable to participate in the tournament but instead chose to watch. Guests from the Army and other community organisations were given opportunities to interact with the young people to offer testimonies of their experiences of the gun and gang culture.

The Army used all their skills to remove a bollard on the road that was blocking their entrance to the tournament pitches and supplied a 20 foot tall climbing wall for the participants to have a go on during the day. This proved to be incredibly popular – especially with the younger age group.

The 250 participants who attended Shoot were in for a real treat of exciting and attacking football with both age groups climaxing with tense finals.

The younger age group tournament (featuring 12 teams aged 13-15) was decided on a thrilling penalty shoot out with Big Boyz F.C. ultimately triumphing 4-3 on ‘sudden death’.

Meanwhile 12 teams also contested the fiercely competitive older age group (ages 16-18). The final was an evenly matched affair with neither side conceding a goal. Eventually the tournament was won by Balsall Heath’s Team Samba 1-0 after extra time.

Shoot was supported by Birmingham City Council’s Ladywood Ward and was a resounding success that helped tackle the issue of gun and gang culture in Birmingham through engaging the target group of 13-18 year olds in order to facilitate interaction and raise awareness by using pitch-side stalls and mentors.

A gallery can be seen here.

More on the Shoot! Tournament can be found on the Term-Time website here.