Premier League Kicks is turning 20!
This month we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of a programme that for two decades has used the power of football and sport to inspire young people to reach their potential in high-need areas of England and Wales.
More than 600,000 young people have come through Premier League Kicks, which is funded by the Premier League through the Premier League Foundation and is now run by 93 clubs across the Premier League, English Football League and National League.
To mark the anniversary, we are speaking to former Premier League Kicks participants to find out what they are doing now and to discover how the programme made an impact on them.
Giorgio Levendis-Turi, Chelsea
"To Premier League Kicks, thank you for providing me with all the opportunities you have and I hope that the work I'm currently doing is repaying the favour."
As a life-long Chelsea fan, Giorgio is living out his dream working on Premier League Kicks as a youth inclusion team leader at the Chelsea FC Foundation.
It is a full-circle moment for the 24-year-old who started out on the programme when as an 11-year-old Year 7 student in Pimlico.
Now, he is using Premier League Kicks to inspire and guide the next generation of participants.
This is his story.
The Premier League. It's More Than A Game
"I grew up in west London, around Bayswater in the estates. My parents were constantly trying to keep me from going out and engaging with the wrong people.
"I moved to Pimlico at 11 and we managed to find a positive compromise where I was allowed out to play football around the corner at a Premier League Kicks session with Chelsea. My parents signed me up and every week my dad would take me. Every week there was something to look forward to.
"There was a real chance of going down the wrong path. I've known people that did unfortunately. We grew up together in the same area but they didn't take the opportunities afforded to them.
"Luckily I did so I've managed to keep on a steady path all the way through school. I kept going until I was 18. I did my A-levels, went to university and got my coaching badges up to UEFA C - and then got a job at the Chelsea Foundation.
"I was someone who was potentially at risk and falling out of education, not being able to keep myself in a school environment, because I found that extremely challenging when I was younger.
"School wasn't for me but working with people at Chelsea helped me to stay in and get the qualifications I needed to move to the next level. Premier League Kicks played a really important role in me getting qualifications because otherwise I might have been out just doing whatever. I don't know what I'd be doing.
"I have really good memories of all the coaches that I was with, the lessons they tried to teach you, even though we were at an age you might not understand it. As you grow up, you start to think, 'we had this conversation then and it's helped me form an opinion or helped me change the way I was behaving in a positive way.'
"When you're growing up in London, you don't understand the opportunities you have a lot of young people are sidetracked by other things.
"The young people are not just there to play football, they are there to engage with each other, make friends. I have a lot of friends who I played with at Premier League Kicks that I keep in contact with.
"The programme really helped me keep focused on the football. I barely missed a session. It helped me keep on track, helped me go through education, gave me advice when I was having a tough time in school, it kept me afloat.
"It has given me the opportunity to get my coaching badges. It gave me a job. I started off as a sessional coach and Chelsea Foundation have provided me with endless opportunities in terms of my development and for example, they have funded my youth worker and mentoring qualifications.
"Now I'm a contracted member of staff. I run one of the most successful components of the Premier League Kicks programme at Chelsea, which is the youth panel. Most of the work I do is on youth forums and speaking and developing young people, not just on the football pitch but in terms of their character.
"The fact that I can now give back to the young people that I'm working with and help them develop means the world to me. One of the reasons I go into work is because I know that I am actively changing young people's lives and I really do enjoy it because I'm not restrained to just coaching, I can have conversations with young people, I can help mentor them and guide them.
"I can relate well with the young people. We've grown up in the same environment and we speak the same language. We have a lot of common ground and you can break down barriers so easily.
"Premier League Kicks is constant and that's important because young people know that we're not going anywhere. When you engage a young person from eight, hopefully you can keep them up until 18 and you're constantly with that young person, helping them grow, helping them develop.
"The programme might be one of the main positive influences in their lives. You don't know what young people are going through at home or in school. It is a place for them to have a bit of respite if they need it.
"It's a great feeling seeing a pitch full of young people. You know every person there is enjoying themselves, there's always smiles on their faces. They're in the environment rather than being external to it.
"One of the things that I have learned is when you're being afforded an opportunity, you should always go for it. It's crazy to think about what has happened but I am happy it's turned out this way."