Rico Lewis turns World Cup disappointment into community action with Manchester youth camp

Manchester City defender Rico Lewis spent part of his summer running a youth football camp at Hough End playing fields on the outskirts of Manchester, just days after England’s comeback win over Norway in Miami — a tournament the 21-year-old had hoped to be part of.

Nearly 200 boys and girls attended the first ever Rico Lewis Youth Football Camp, organised in partnership with ProSportPlex and led on the ground by former Manchester United academy coach Neil Harris. Lewis was joined by his sister Sacha, a defender in the City Women academy, who was particularly encouraged by the number of young girls who turned up.

“It’s been so good to experience it,” Sacha Lewis told the Manchester Evening News. “There’s girls down here and hopefully I can be an inspiration to them — if they see that they can carry on working hard they can be wherever they want to be. You see a lot of women players at the top level who say they played with boys, so this is such a good experience for them.”

The camp is the latest in a series of community efforts from Lewis this summer. He also enlisted fellow footballers Phil Foden, Shea Charles, and Shea Lacey to host a charity football tournament raising money for homelessness charities in Manchester, and recently got married.

“Giving back to the city is something I’m a big fan of, and also giving the young kids an opportunity to have a day like this where they can remember it, play football and be happy,” Lewis said. “It’s good for them to be able to see me, who to them is a professional.”

Sacha Lewis added that the experience of being around City Women’s WSL title-winning squad last season had been formative. “Even being able to be around it and seeing them win titles was amazing — can’t ask for any better,” she said.

For Rico Lewis, a summer that fell short of his international ambitions has nonetheless been a full one — and, by his own account, exactly the kind of grounding he needed heading into a new Premier League season.