Leonardo Da Silva Lopes on hand to present trophies at football tournament.

Peterborough United’s Leonardo Da Silva Lopes was invited to hand out the awards at the Youth Dreams Project European Championship themed football tournament, held at The Grange in Netherton on Thursday afternoon.

Y.D.P co-founder Luke Kennedy, who played for Posh in the youth setup, said; “Y.D.P was formed in 2014 and started with a first project, being a World Cup themed football tournament for primary schools across Peterborough. With it being the European Championships this year, we held a Euro themed football tournament with 16 primary schools in attendance each representing one of the countries that are playing at this year’s Euros.”

Da Silva Lopes watched the final take place and picked out his ‘Player of the Match’ who was presented with a signed Posh football. The young midfielder then presented the awards before posing for pictures and signing autographs.

Kennedy added; “The Youth Dreams Project was formed in 2014 by myself and former Posh goalkeeper Luke Steele, who is now playing at Panathinaikos, with the aim of delivering a high-quality of sports coaching within primary and secondary schools. We provide different types of projects within the community, including a Wednesday evening session in conjunction with Cambridgeshire Police and a Saturday morning sessions for toddlers. We like to encourage young children to participate in sport and give them something to strive towards and achieve in life.

“We had 16 primary schools here today with over 160 kids in attendance and we also had a great turnout from the parents that came to support the kids. It’s been a fantastic day, the weather has held out and all in all it’s been a really good day.”

To find out more information about the Youth Dreams Project please visit their website at www.youthdreamsproject.co.uk.