Kyle Ingram-Baldwin : Vending operators in the south of England will already be acquainted with ARN’s Business Development Manager, Kyle Ingram-Baldwin. Kyle joined UK vending’s favourite wholesaler almost two years ago and since then, he’s been making a name for himself as an integral member of the ARN team.
Prior to ARN, Kyle was at Carabao. Indeed, he was ‘in the team’ from Carabao’s first day as a player in the UK market. ‘It’s nice to be working with them again’, he says, ’their sports drink is an exceptional product,and the journey the business has been on since then to become the major player it is today is stunning.’
However, when Kyle gets together with his customers, more often than not they want to get the business element out of the way so that they can turn the conversation to football…
Kyle explains: ‘I run a mental health football service in Minster, near Ramsgate Kent, called ‘Project Talking Football’. We get guys together who are are suffering from mental health problems, maybe they’re going through things like job loss, bereavement, break-ups, all sorts. We meet every week, we play football and we chat about how we are doing.
‘It’s quite well structured’, Kyle says. ‘To begin with, we get together in the centre circle and have a chat around a different topic each week. It could be anxiety, depression, signs of mental burn out, or what have you. After that, we do one or two very basic football drills and then we’ll have a match. At the final whistle, we come back together to see if the football has improved our mood. It’s a great little thing to be involved in.’
Kyle founded the project with two friends; Steve, and Colin, the president of the local football club. ‘We said ‘we need to do something here’ so we got on with it. Thanks to some funding from the local FA, we can put the sessions on every week, free of charge.’
Kyle’s been a certified football coach for 15 years. He was running a youth team at the time he and his wife Becky welcomed their firstborn and unsurprisingly, that put the football on hold. ‘I stepped away for a coupleof years’, Kyle says, ‘then my boy wanted to get involved and pretty soon, the local team got wind of the fact that I was a qualified coach and inevitably, I got roped into running my son’s team. Then, on the back of that,I got involved in the adult sessions.’
Project Talking Football is an incredible ‘safety valve’ for the people involved. There are 45 registered participants now, ranging from people as young as 18 right up to the oldest member, who is a sprightly 72. They all agree on the benefits of getting together, having a game of footy and getting things off their chest.
The project has even been featured by the BBC and such is its success that there are plans to roll out the concept across Kent. But there’s a problem: funds.
‘Even though all the coaches work for free and we enjoy a lot of good will, we need funds to expand what we’ve been doing very successfully in Minster’, Kyle says. ‘That’s why we’ve established a ‘Just Giving’ page…’
So, can you help? A brief scan of the Just Giving page reveals that the early contributors to the fund are vending people, eager to support Kyle’s initiative. If you’re a footie fan – and even if you’re not – it’s clear that Project Talking Football is having a significant impact amongst men who, otherwise, experience huge difficulties in opening up about their emotional issues…
You can make your contribution to Project Talking Football here:
And thanks…
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