Reserves support Respect 4 All
Three of the club's young stars turned out at a Liverpool FC Respect 4 All training session for children and adults with severe learning difficulties.
Emmanuel Mendy, Kristjan Emilsson and Suso were at St Margaret's Cricket Centre to sign autographs, pose for pictures and chat with the groups who were enjoying their weekly coaching classes under the guidance of LFC community coaches.
The evenings are all about increasing participation and allowing for the youngsters and adults, some of whom have attended the sessions for over four years, to get involved, socialise and enjoy their football.
"It's very important for us to come and show our faces and give back to the community," Emilsson told Liverpoolfc.tv. "It's great to see smiles on their faces. It's definitely good that they can see us and work with us.
"It's just great to give back to the community. It's great what Liverpool is doing with the community and we've just got to make sure we do more of the community work because it's really good for us."
LFC community coaches run sessions at the Cricket Centre four days a week. Wednesday is dedicated to those who are visually impaired, Thursday's classes are reserved for adults and children with a physical disability, while Friday is for wheelchair users.
"Tonight [Tuesday] is for those with severe learning difficulties," explained Ryan Moignard, LFC community coach and event organiser. "We work with kids and adults who have various learning difficulties and for those who don't have an opportunity to play football, we give them that opportunity.
"I believe it's vitally important because we need to give people the chance to play any form of sport. It's all about working as hard as we can to get as many people involved in sport as possible, especially those with disabilities.
"We work with many technical aspects; however, our main attraction is the social side. Building their confidence, their self-esteem and giving them the independence they need outside of the football pitch."
The younger group had their training session first. They practiced dribbling, skills and shooting, under the direction of the LFC community coaches, before being introduced to the Academy starlets.
The players then joined in with a penalty shoot-out. Mendy took up position between the sticks and the youngsters lined up to try their luck. Charlotte Burke was in particularly good form as she despatched penalty after penalty past the left back.
"Everyone's come here tonight and they've been on tenterhooks to find out what's going on with the players," said Matt Pounder, LFC community coach. "It's great to see the Academy lads coming down and I think everyone here really appreciates it - especially the kids."