Before joining AFC Community Trust over a year ago, young volunteer Caitlyn Irvine never thought she would be as confident as she is now.

Caitlyn (15), began her involvement with AFCCT as a primary 6 participant at Footy Tea – a programme that involves football drills with an evening meal at the stadium for young people from Seaton Primary.

When she joined St Machar Academy and was too old to attend Footy Tea, Caitlyn proactively knocked on the Players Entrance at Pittodrie to ask if she could help and from there, she started volunteering at Footy Tea after school on a Tuesday.

Impressed by her dedication to helping others, AFCCT put Caitlyn through the Protection of Vulnerable Groups scheme and supported her passion to work with people in her area by offering in-service training and on-the-spot coaching and feedback.

Having developed into a great role model and being the first female volunteer at Footy Tea, the number of young women attending the programme has grown.

Last year, AFCCT chose Caitlyn to join their Eurotrip to Nijmegen in the Netherlands as a reward for her devotion to volunteering each week and putting young people ahead of her own social life.

Caitlyn has built strong relationships with the team and young volunteers at AFCCT and on this trip, Caitlyn’s desire to help other young people from Aberdeen came to life.

Caitlyn said: “Six of us were chosen by the Trust to go to Nijmegen where we met three other football clubs – Nijmegen FC, Liverpool and Tottenham.

“This was a great opportunity to meet people from different cultures where we played football and cooked our own dinner. We had a Scottish night, London night, Liverpool night and a Nijmegen night.

“After we did teambuilding exercises it was less scary and we all started to make friends. I made many friendships and value the chance to meet new people because if you don’t, you won’t know how to understand people from different backgrounds.

“My experience was phenomenal and I would definitely go back and do it again.”

Before Nijmegen, Caitlyn’s openness and ability to communicate was almost non-existent and the skills she has gained through volunteering and taking the opportunity to go abroad has had a long-lasting effect on her development.

Caitlyn added: “A year ago, I wouldn’t have been able to speak to someone I didn’t know or take a phone call. I would have been too shy but everyone at AFCCT has helped me to become a more confident individual.”

Senior community projects officer at AFCCT, David Smith, said: “Caitlyn has attended many In Service nights, helped at numerous events, voluntarily worked for two weeks over Easter and seven weeks over summer at the Food N Fun project.

“Everyone at AFCCT is so proud of Caitlyn and her willingness to put herself out of her comfort zone to help others is inspirational. She has completed more than 200 hours of volunteering and is now a Youth Ambassador for AFCCT.”

Caitlyn believes that AFC’s proposed plans for a new stadium and community centre will provide even more opportunities for the Trust to engage with more people and believes that an upgrade is much needed.

Caitlyn said: “The stadium we have now is quite old and it definitely needs to be updated. I think it’ll be better because the plans show that they will have training grounds on the site of the stadium so that they can do more things in one place rather than being scattered about.

“There are so many programmes that AFCCT runs for people of all ages and it would be great to see the facilities all in one place so that they don’t have to travel unnecessarily. For example, being 15, I can’t drive yet so my dad has to drive me to the locations I volunteer at.

“I think the stadium would encourage so many more young people because of all of the new facilities they are proposing, which would also be a great benefit for the schools that AFCCT works with. The new facilities will give people a place to get excited and motivated to try out new sports and start volunteering.”