One of Norwich City’s most popular players has been finding ways of reaching out to young supporters - despite current isolation measures brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Donning a face mask and flawlessly observing social distancing measures, centre-back Christoph Zimmermann spent a day delivering activity packs to children with special education needs in the county.
It was part of an initiative launched by the club alongside the Community Sports Foundation called the Canaries Covid-19 Community Project, in which volunteers deliver food parcels, hygiene bags and activity packs into the community.
The towering German, who was runner-up in the player of the season awards as the Canaries claimed the Championship title last season, volunteered as a bid to raise some cheering during these testing times.
He told Canaries.co.uk: “I see how many requests come in for us to help out, so I asked Jonny (Jonathan Martin, first team operations manager) if I could do something because he always gives us updates in our group chat to tell us what we’re planning to do next.
“At the moment, we have lots of time and I don’t think it is more dangerous than going grocery shopping if I’m honest. You just have to be careful, but I basically deliver the parcels and people collect them while keeping two metres apart.
“I think the children would like to take pictures, but obviously we have to have appropriate distance. It’s still nice for them to see one of the players at the moment because there is no football in the stadium and no football on the telly.
“For at least some of the supports to see a player, that helps the community.”
The work of the Canaries Covid-19 Community Project is part-funded by a £200,000 donation made earlier this month from the club’s players, who are also backing the Players Together’ fund nationally.
City’s number six added: “Nicki Price from the charity SENsational Families explained what the charity is doing and how they operate. She told me five years ago they started and now are helping 2,000 people around Norfolk.
“This is one of the actions that the club, including players and start, donated parts of their salaries for.”
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