Jenny Laue speaks to a Teesside soccer centre manager who is on target to beat the recession and childhood obesity.

FORGET the statistics that say North-East children are the most obese in the UK because they don’t do any exercise. You only have to look at how busy soccer centre Goals Teesside, in Middlesbrough, is to realise that there are plenty of boys and girls of all ages who relish working up a sweat.

The company, which opened in 2005 on the site of the old greyhound racing track, in Stockton Road, is one of 32 similar centres across the UK, all operating under the Goals Soccer Centres banner.

The company specialises in five-aside football and new manager, Kash Patel says it’s one of the fastestgrowing sports in the UK. He has seen a steadily increasing stream of children and adults making use of Goals Teesside’s state-of-the-art, allweather pitches, proving that government statisticians aren’t always right.

“We have seen an 18 per cent growth in the three months I’ve been here, when other companies in the leisure industry are showing a decline.

That’s a massive achievement for a North-East company,” says Kash.

“I think five-a-side is great for children of all ages – we cater for players from four to 84 – because it develops their creative thinking and team-playing skills. And if we can put a bit of fun into exercise, it might tackle childhood obesity as well.”

There is lots to do at Goals Teesside and budding Beckhams and their parents have the choice of ten five-a-side and four seven-a-side pitches which have all been surfaced with third-generation rubber crum, a sponge-like surface made of little bits of rubber, which is great from a health and safety point of view.

“We run competitive football leagues for teams who play regularly plus coaching sessions every Wednesday and Saturday, where our FA-qualified coaches teach a wide range of football skills. Our soccer academies are always very popular, but they mostly happen in the school holidays when the kids are off,” says Kash With so much going on at the centre, it’s only a matter of time before kids from Teesside become the fittest in the country and who knows, an England captain of the future might have their first taste of the beautiful game at Middlesbrough.

■ Goals Teesside, Stockton Road, Middlesbrough, TS5 4AF, Tel: 01642-228200, goalsfootball.co.uk The next three-day coaching academy takes place during Easter, on April, 14, 15 and 16.

There is also still time to enter the centre’s heat, on April 19, for the national Umbro-sponsored five-aside tournament, which will give the winning team a chance to play at the new Wembley Stadium.