The benefits of ballet have been well established with significant cross over into the world of football and many other competitive sports.

‘Lancing FC has always been at the forefront of innovation and if ballet helps us turn those 2-1 defeats into a 2-2 then so much the better.’

Chairman Steve Taylor explains ‘Ballet will benefit all of our players – it helps strength and endurance as well as having huge benefits in the areas of flexibility, balance and co-ordination. Since ballet often requires precise and quick movements where being just an inch off can be considered “needing correction,” their smaller “quick-fire” muscles tend to develop to adapt to this demand without adding much bulk.  These smaller muscles, possibly pushed aside at the gym by football players in favour of working larger muscles, are particularly useful to offensive players who may rely on strength and quickness, where too much bulk would actually take away from their performance on the field. We really think the introduction of ballet for all of our teams will keep everyone on their toes.’

Ballet has been part of the training regime in the MLS for many years as can be seen in this picture of Seattle Sounders duo Zach Scott and Brad Evans and even Frank Lampard donned the tutu for training in New York (above).

Vice Chairman Barry Sutton added ‘ballet has been shown to produce benefits to mental health as well as physical with reports of increases in cognitive development, a sense of calm and well-being and increased confidence. We are so sure of the benefits that we have extended our partnership with Daisy and will offer stretches and basic ballet to our fans and committee. I, for one, cannot wait to hit the bar.’

‘ballet has been shown to produce benefits to mental health as well as physical with reports of increases in cognitive development … I, for one, cannot wait to hit the bar.’

Daisy will begin working with the players and fans as soon as COVID restrictions allow but orders have already been placed for 50 tutus so that all squads will be covered for next season and there will even be some spare for fans who want to improve their arabesques and pirouettes.

Safeguarding officer Jack Taylor, who’s idea this was, said ‘Lancing FC has always been at the forefront of innovation and if ballet helps us turn those 2-1 defeats into a 2-2 then so much the better.’

Our thanks to Vice-Chairman Barry for his update on the wonderful new ballet initiative.