Brad Potts and Ben Woodburn joined Preston North End Community and Education Trust’s [PNECET] National Citizen Service [NCS] programme participants last week to help deliver a healthy eating workshop!
The NCS programme provides unique opportunities for young people aged 15 to 17 to develop their personal qualities and life skills by participating in a residential stay, adventurous outdoor activities, educational workshops and planning a social action project.
More than 11,000 young people have completed the programme nationwide this summer, including 103 with PNECET, and the most recent wave of participants were lucky enough to meet Potts and Woodburn at Deepdale.
The midfield pair got stuck into helping participants in the kitchen, as they were tasked with cooking pizzas, albeit with the twist of adding healthy toppings.
The players then also answered questions from participants about their diets and the importance of staying fit and healthy and how that affects their roles as professional footballers.
Participants on the Trust’s second NCS programme of the summer included pupils from Sir Tom Finney High School, with 50 per cent of participants across the programme living with a disability.
💙 @itvnews visited @pnefc as Brad Potts and Ben Woodburn took part in a 'Food for Thought' workshop at @pnecommunity last week. #EFL | @EFLTrust pic.twitter.com/nuxJwyYn92
— EFL (@EFL) August 25, 2022
The action all took place in front of the ITV Granada cameras, who spoke with both Brad and Ben after the event.
Brad said: “We’ve been helping the kids bake their pizzas, and talking to them about our daily routine, our diet and nutrition, and the type of food we eat before games. Just trying to guide them and help them in terms of healthy eating, it’s been good and enjoyable.
“I think, when I was younger, I didn’t really have that, so it’s good that we can now pass that on to the kids, and hopefully they can learn from it. It’s good to have a good, balanced diet and get good foods into you, especially if you’re wanting to play sport yourself. So it’s good that we’ve been able to interact and help them.
“It’s a big responsibility, I certainly didn’t have this when I was younger, so it’s a great experience for them, hearing from us and hearing from other role models. So hopefully they can learn from it and maybe take it on in their lives.
“I didn’t realise how important it was [eating healthily] when I was younger. When you’re a kid, you just eat what you want, don’t you? It’s as I’ve got older I’ve understood it’s massive, especially if you’re trying to be a professional.”
Ben added: “I enjoyed it, I think the kids did as well. We had a laugh and it was good fun, definitely.
“They’re just asking a few questions about healthy eating, which is obviously really important for kids nowadays, just to ask and see what we eat on a regular day.
“If they’re Preston fans or not, maybe they look up to us and if we can give them some idea of healthy eating, hopefully they can follow that and take that into their daily lifestyle.”
For more information about the NCS programme, email brad@pne.com, or click here to express your interest for a future programme.