Pics: Starlets get their Kickz
Three of Liverpool's most exciting young prospects were the special guests at Anfield Sports Centre on Tuesday night to lend their support to an important community project.
Raheem Sterling, Ryan McLaughlin and Kristjan Gauti Emilsson joined local girls to take part in a Kickz event along with community coaches from Liverpool and Everton.
Kickz is a programme which is aimed at young people within the city, aged between 12 and 18, in high areas of anti-social behaviour. It uses football as a tool to promote social inclusion and engage youngsters by using local ball parks and facilities.
The scheme is run in conjunction with Everton and is the only Barclays Premier League community initiative in which two clubs have joined forces to work together.
Upon arriving at the sports centre, the trio took part in a girls' football demonstration before each picking up a pair of pompoms to join a local dance troupe class.
LFC's Kickz Officer Forbes Duff said: "The event was all about the work we do with local girls in the community, so tonight we had two sessions on - girls' football and street cheer and dancing.
"Kickz is a joint project between Liverpool and Everton and it's the only one in the country where two Premier League clubs work together. It's a great opportunity for both clubs to put their rivalries to one side and put something back in the community.
"The badges of the two clubs are a big pull to get youngsters involved."
For Sterling, McLaughlin and Emilsson, it was the first time they have took part in the club's community activities - and Duff believes both Liverpool and the players themselves will benefit from their involvement.
He said: "It was good for the young lads to come down and play a part in the community involvement, and also for the local people to see that our younger players are interested in the community and do want to give something back.
"It was also important for the lads to go side-by-side with the kids, engage, talk and interact with them and show they want to help the community.
"We always encourage player involvement from the young lads, so them coming here, meeting, engaging and talking with people is a great opportunity for them to find out about community projects and get involved.
"They've said themselves they're keen to be involved and want to help and put something back, and that can only be a good thing for Liverpool Football Club.
"They all did well, although maybe they need to brush up on their dancing skills!"
Despite their tender years, the importance of Liverpool's community schemes was not lost on the trio.
McLaughlin said: "It was brilliant and it was good to see everyone smiling and having fun. The local community are the ones who support us and go to games, so it's important to try and give something back to them."
Sterling added: "It was really good to join in and we really enjoyed it. It was good to get involved with the local community and try and give something back. I'm definitely looking forward to doing more events like this in the future."
Here are some photos from the event
