Peterborough charity team ‘keepy-up’ the good work for Macmillan

Charity team, Team Sementa who are on their way to raising £40,000 for charity have taken on their latest fundraiser - the 1,000 ‘keepy-up’ challenge.

Team Sementa, who are led by Marco Sementa are a charity football team who ‘play for change’.

Though the team usually fundraises through charity matches, with over 600 players having taken part in a number of events so far, the lockdown and limitations due to coronavirus meant team games were not possible.

Not wanting to let this stop them, Marco still wanted to keep fundraising with this time and came up with the challenge of ‘keepy-uppys’!

Marco said: “My mum and family were always proud of my charity work, so I founded Team Sementa wanting to do something in my mum’s memory after she passed away in 2012.

“As the fundraising continued beyond what I had imagined, I now want to show my two daughters, Isabella and Sienna, how important it is to help others.

“It has been great to have my dad and brothers involved too, and to have the full support of Amy, my wife. Making her and my girls proud also pushes me to raise more.

“The plan was five football games and to raise £500 for Macmillan by getting old team mates and friends together. 129 games later, over £31,000 raised and over 600 players involved, the games are going from strength to strength.”

Marco decided to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support to help the charity fund specialist cancer nurses who care in the community.

He added: “It was a charity my mum supported and a charity a lot of the players support for other personal reasons too.”

With ages ranging from 22-62, players have taken part have included Posh legend Marcus Ebdon and Celtic ladies’ Jodie Bartle.

Donning their Team Sementa kit during lockdown, the players took to their gardens and outdoor spaces to take part.

The average keepy-up target for players is 50 each, though some are taking it to the next level and managing over 300 in one go!

Throughout lockdown the team have managed to raise £1,000 and Marco still has his sights on the £40,000 overall target, of which they’ve raised over £33,000 to date.

He said: “The aim was to get to £40,000 as it’s 2020 and I turned 40 this year!

“However this horrible virus has slowed fundraising down, but we’ve still managed to do well.”

Marco won the Sporting Achievement Award in the Peterborough Telegraph’s Pride in Peterborough Awards in 2019.

Jade Lambert, Fundraising Manager for Macmillan in Cambridgeshire said: “At a time when Macmillan’s support is needed more than ever before, we are also facing a significant drop in our income and the truth is that we can’t continue to be there for people who need us without the support of individuals like Marco and his team.

“Team Sementa have already achieved local hero status by raising so many thousands for pounds for good causes and we can’t thank them enough for taking on Macmillan’s Kick-Off Challenge to raise vital funds for specialist cancer support services and healthcare professionals.”