Snodin supports a project using sport to help mental illness

Everton legend Ian Snodin has gone back to school to support an award-winning project which is using sport and the arts to help children recover from mental health problems and the impact of the Covid pandemic.

Snodin, 58, was part of the club’s last title-winning squad in 1987 and visited St. John’s Primary School in Southport, one of many schools supported by the ‘Tackling the Blues’ project which is led by Everton in the Community (EitC), Edgehill University and Tate Liverpool.

The project, featured as part of the national Made at Uni campaign highlighting how universities support local communities, works in schools across Merseyside to help children battling or at risk of developing mental health problems. It combines classroom well-being mentoring sessions with sport and physical activity to prevent mental health problems developing among children.

Over the last 12 months it has held virtual online sessions with schools in response to growing concerns over pupils’ well-being during lockdown, but this week the project returned to the classrooms across the region — just in time for the end of term. Snodin, an Everton Ambassador, took part in a special sports day celebration with pupils and staff from Edgehill and EitC.

Snodin said: ‘I loved it and I’ve missed being able to do this sort of thing. I’ve got grandkids myself of a similar age, so I know how difficult it has been for these children over the last year or so. They are used to going to school and being with friends.

‘It’s been tough for them being at home during the lockdowns, so for Everton in the Community, Edgehill and Tate to come together to help them during those times and now be able to get back in the classroom with them is fantastic.

‘From the minute we walked in you could see the smile on their faces. They’re enjoying taking part, they’ve got total respect for the students running the session and it’s brilliant for their well-being.



‘Projects like this are vital for local communities and it’s so important to have both elements in terms of the physical activity and sport the football club can bring, and the education and mentoring the university provides.

‘I’m getting to that age now when I can’t run around as much but I’m used to getting to going out into primary schools and secondary and doing this sort of work.

‘I know some of the kids were looking at me and thinking, “Who is this old man here?” But once they see you with an Everton kit and they see the badge, they relate to you.

‘Some of them were telling me to put one in the top corner, so I had to tell them that I could have done 30 years ago but not these days!’