The children selected to take part in a coaching session at the opening of the new Blue Pitches in west London were representative of Chelsea's Football in the Community (FITC) work with national projects Positive Futures and Kickz.

FITC will be one of the major beneficiaries of the new all-weather facilities in Stamford Bridge's neighbouring boroughs, their locations carefully selected in partnership with the local authorities.

Each Blue Pitch will be maintained by the local borough council and will be used primarily by Chelsea's community coaches to provide sporting opportunities for local youngsters - and also to extend work in helping to tackle crime, gangs and anti social behaviour through positive engagement.

In addition, local schools in the four areas will be offered after-school coaching with education and training days on offer during the school holidays.

Daniel Gill, Chelsea's FITC assistant development manager for London said at the opening:

'It is going to be amazing. This is going to raise the profile of what we do locally with the chance to turn up for training on state-of-the-art astroturf, all branded up in Chelsea and adidas.

'Before there have been puddles, holes, pitches have been dangerous to use. Now there are no excuses not to take part or for us not to deliver any session that we want.

'It may allow us with kids that we engaged initially but lost due to poor facilities to gain their attention again because we are here for the long run.

'All the sites we use for Positive Futures or Kickz work have received one of the new pitches.'

Michael Ballack, after his involvement with the coaching session, said: 'The most important thing is the kids should have fun and we saw that. They should know they have space they can go in free time and not just hang around.

Frank Lampard added: 'As players you get involved in a lot of appearances and the best ones are always with kids. We enjoy being with them because you never forget that feeling of playing when you were young.'

'The group was half made up from the local school team, half from kids that we have engaged through our Positive Futures programme,' explained Gill.

'They have been in trouble in the school, run-ins with teachers, discipline problems, and we have worked with them as a small group.

'They may have heard something through the grapevine but it wasn't until this afternoon they found out properly that they were going to work with Frank and Michael.'

'For the players to turn up shows the commitment to the work.'

Positive Futures is a national social inclusion programme using sport and leisure activities to engage with disadvantaged and socially marginalised young people.

Using the power of football and the appeal of professional clubs, the Kickz programme targets some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country, offering 12-18 year olds the chance to take part in positive activity three nights a week. It was begun by the Football Foundation in conjunction with the Police.

Click here for more details of Football in the Community work.