Advertisement

'We're massive on teaching kids manners'

becki bowden - bbc news
·2 min read
Lewie Coyle, a professional footballer, stands on a floodlit football pitch as children play in the background. He is wearing a black beanie hat and a black sports top displaying the logo of his football academy.
Lewie Coyle, the captain of Hull City, said teaching life skills to children was just as important as improving their sporting performance [BBC]

Two high-profile sporting brothers from Hull have told children and families in the city that life's best lessons can be learned from any sport.

Lewie Coyle, is a professional footballer and captain of Hull City, his older brother Tommy is a former Commonwealth boxing champion.

The pair have been using their experience of sport to teach children and teenagers life skills and improve their health and fitness.

Lewie, 29, said: "The kids learn a number of things. But it is so important for me, that they learn life lessons and morals and principles that can help them in their everyday life."

"I think if we put these kids in situations they're not used to, take them out their comfort zone, they have to use their social skills. We've massive on manners here," he added.

"I learnt so many lessons in sport. How to be with people, how to treat people, how to respect people, speak to people in the right manner.

"The stuff you learn in sport can be transferred so easily into your every day life."

Hull City captain Lewie Coyle avoids a tackle during a match. He is on the right of the image and is wearing a black and amber shirt, black shorts, black and amber socks and a pair of black football boots. The yellow, red and blue football is up in the air after bouncing off the green grass pitch. Tyrhys Dolan, a Blackburn Rovers player, is laid on the floor and is wearing a blue and white shirt, white shorts and blue socks.
Lewie Coyle (right) battles with Tyrhys Dolan during Hull City's Championship match against Blackburn Rovers [PA Media]

Two hundred children, some as young as five and up to 14-years-old have attended sessions run by the Coyle brothers since April.

Summer, 10, told the BBC that she had enjoyed the sessions because it had given her the chance to make friends and learn new skills while Adam, 13, said it had improved his skills.

Mason, 8, added: "It has all helped me to learn and improve the way I play. I hope it might help me get noticed by a scout and get into a team."

Tommy Coyle smiles into the camera. He has short, shaved hair and a stubble beard. He is standing at the side of a football pitch bathed in floodlights. A number of children are visible in the background playing football.
Tommy Coyle, who retired from boxing in 2020, said the skills he had learned as a sportsman had helped to develop his business interests away from sport [BBC]

Tommy Coyle, 35, became Commonwealth lightweight champion in 2018, and said professional sport had "saved" him.

"A lot of lessons that I learned in sport, I've transferred in business. Dedication, discipline, perseverance, there's so many skills you can learn," he said.

"We developed the programme which is all about teaching and showing children that there's more to football than just kicking a ball.

"There's nutrition, there's psychology, there's strength, there's endurance. There's all the extra 1%'s that add up and make a huge difference."

Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

More on this story