Obesity amongst children is on the rise in the UK, according to recent studies by Public Health England. To combat this, BSSA, or Bengal Stars Sports Academy, are a charitable institution founded in 2016 offering weekly football sessions for boys aged 7-16 in Walsall.
Official figures show 25.2% of year 6 pupils suffered from obesity in Walsall; 5.2% higher than the average in England in 2016/17, the year BSSA was established. BSSA was started by a group of friends who grew up together and as cliché as it sounds, wanted to give something back to the community they grew up in.
I spoke to a member of the board of directors at the BSSA, Mr Iliyas Khandakar, and his view of the company and its values were as follows:
"we are a company devoted to ensuring children from areas such as Walsall are given opportunities.
"we have FA approved coaches in all of our sessions and our tournaments held throughout the year give our children the opportunity to showcase their abilities.
"we've also had a scout from Aston Villa and one from West Bromwich Albion."
The football sessions, held on Saturdays for 2 hours, are split into 2 one hour sessions, an hour is solely devoted to training, delivered by coaches who run through specific drills, and another to matches and fine-tuning children's ability when in game. When asked about the times for the sessions and the reasoning behind them, Mr Khandakar said:
"Children, especially the age range we coach and manage, should aim to get 60 minutes of exercise per week, although this is done in their schools I feel importance should be given to knowing that the 60 minutes is a minimum
"Weekends are also spent lying around the house in many cases so to ensure children are getting a balance of exercise and rest, 2 hours is perfect."
Lastly, when asked what the main goals for the BSSA in the future are, Iliyas said:
"as a collective, we want to be officially registered as a charity and this is scheduled to happen in early 2020.
"we want to ensure football is still thriving in areas like Walsall amongst children particularly and encourage parents to keep children active and give them the right diets and together we will combat the epidemic of obesity."