ONE of the first Walking Football communities in Turkey has been created in Didim, with the wholehearted support of residents and tourists.
Launched just 10 weeks ago, the Didim Walking Football Club (DWFC) has quickly grown from a 5-a-side gathering to 60 people participating, and regularly attracting more than 20 players at its weekly Monday morning games.
It now includes people who have recently recovered from cancer and have had double knee and hip replacements.
“Walking football is not just about the physical benefits of participating, but improvement in players’ mental wellbeing is a key element in what we do and why we do it,” confirmed DWFC’s founders John Croft, Mark William and James Ash. “The response has been phenomenal.”
Walking football was first introduced in the UK by the Chesterfield FC Community Trust programme in 2011 to help improve the health of older people in the area.
However, it wasn’t until 2014 that the sport gained came to wider public attention and has since rocketed internationally with huge popularity in Portugal and Spain.
It was in Spain where John had played regularly when holidaying for extended periods of time. He said: “The set-up over there is incredible with lots of people enjoying the benefits of playing in organized leagues and tournaments.”
Having played in the UK and enjoyed friendlies in countries such as Israel, John was eager to get this walking version of the beautiful game launched in Didim.
But he initially struggled to get anything off the ground, until he turned to his co-founders Mark and James. All three have many years of experience playing and coaching around the world.
Mark committed to sponsoring the team, helping get things off the ground with shirts for the team and providing necessary equipment. The team has also benefitted from a partnership with JUST4U Bar & Café, which provides a venue for the team to meet and organize events that help raise funds for future games outside the area.
James’ background in digital and social media marketing has also helped catapult the team’s awareness to more than 40,000 people across Facebook in its first 10 weeks of existence.
The DWFC even had a shoutout from Liverpool legend Alan Kennedy. Kennedy was a left-back for the all-conquering late 70s, mid-80s Liverpool team, which won two European Cups, five First Division Championships, and four League Cups.
Mark explained: “We are open to any age and ability with around 35 years between our youngest and oldest player. We also have holidaymakers looking forward to joining us when they visit this summer and have competitive female players flying over and joining our sessions in the next few weeks.
“DWFC has really opened football up once again to players who thought their playing days were over. Some of the biggest wins I’ve enjoyed are players joining us who haven’t kicked a ball since school!”
James added: “We’re passionate about organizing team activities and events away from the football pitch as this is an area players are enjoying, with the camaraderie and social aspect of our team and people coming together.”
All are welcome to join the DWFC every Monday morning 09.15-09.30 at the two astro turf pitches located at Aytepe Spor Tesisleri, bottom of Ege Road, close to the Meryem Ana Hotel.
You can also follow Didim Walking Football Club on Facebook.