With a backdrop of palm trees and a touch of tropical warmth, you could pass for a scene from Cocoon, the classic 1985 sci-fi film about a group of elderly friends rejuvenated by aliens living underwater off the coast of Florida.
However, this is Coventry and, on available evidence, alien-free. Those present are mostly older men, mostly cancer patients, all bundled up to combat the damp cold of an indoor dome on a wintry morning.
Everyone is on the move, combining vintage football jerseys with high-visibility flashes of modern fitness equipment as they move across the 3G surface. Everyone is filled with anticipation, smiling and laughing, giving off the golden glow of a secret discovered.
This was the magic that had been promised to me by a friend who started playing football by walking, rejoiced in its benefits and advised me to take a closer look at its silent rise in popularity. It became one of the most fun and uplifting tasks of 2024.
Most of those involved offer a variation of the same story. The idea seemed a little silly, but once they started playing they didn't want to stop.
Former Coventry City players David Busst and Dave Bennett run several sessions each week. Busst is 57 years old and has led the Sky Blues in the Community since his professional playing career came to an end after a sickening leg break against Manchester United at Old Trafford in 1996. Bennett, a goal hero in the Coventry's 1987 FA Cup victory, he is now 65 years old and combining ambassadorial and community duties for the Championship club.
Former Coventry City players Dave Bennett and David Busst host weekly walking football sessions in the city.
The games attract players of all ages and offer many the opportunity to re-engage with their beloved sport.
It's been a decade since walking football was added to the program and it has become a phenomenon, as it has been across the country. Last season, 43 EFL clubs ran almost 4,000 walking football sessions. There are thousands more. An FA Cup has just been introduced.
Football at its elite level may be faster and more intense than ever, but men and women across the UK are participating or re-entering the sport they love at a slower pace.
Former England winger Chris Waddle has been spotted playing traveling football for Hallam, his home club in Sheffield, prompting a personal flashback to an impromptu, low-octane kick-off between journalists during downtime at the 2009 Euro Under-21 Championship. in Sweden.
We set up a game in small goals with no goalkeepers and Waddle, who was on BBC 5 Live and playing for the broadcasters against the newspapers, scored with his second touch virtually every time he received the ball, no matter where he was on the field or the address. was facing. In the end we needed a goalkeeper to keep the score down.
However, walking soccer was originally designed for post-operative rehabilitation among people over 50 years of age. It flourished and then flourished again in post-pandemic Britain.
There are all kinds of categories. Busst regularly plays in a competitive 50-and-over league. “Too competitive,” he says. At the other end of the scale are therapeutic wellness sessions and everything in between.
Commentator Alan Parry has been playing four times a week for Maidenhead FC since being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“I was more cynical than anyone,” Parry told me. “It wasn't long ago that I stopped playing competitive futsal and I thought walking to football was for the old and the sick, but it has become an important part of my life – I'm still kicking a ball at 76 years old.
Former England international Chris Waddle is known to play the sport for his local club.
Busst, who saw his promising career ended prematurely by injury, plays in a competitive 50-and-over league.
'I don't know anyone who has started and abandoned it because they didn't enjoy it. I've made new friends and see smiling faces and people having fun.'
There are some basic rules. No heading, no contact, and obviously no running, which means one foot must always be in contact with the ground and penalties can be imposed for repetitive running violations.
Games are usually limited to three or four touches, although the rules are adaptable and each group adapts to its own speed and etiquette. In Coventry, where I was invited as part of EFL Action Week, there is a regular with learning difficulties. If you give the ball to the wrong team, it is returned and the game continues.
This is a participation sport in its truest sense. Dan is 41 years old and the youngest of the group. He was diagnosed with leukemia at age 32 and received three cycles of chemotherapy. He began playing with this group to prepare for a stem cell transplant and has now been called up to the cancer-stricken England walking football team.
The physical benefits are clear: getting people active at a time in their lives when it's easy to stop exercising. The psychological benefits are no less important: they bring people together, give them purpose, and forge friendships.
Nigel is a fairly new addition to the Coventry group and says it has saved his life after “five years of hell” involving illness and bereavement, getting him out of the house, helping him lose half a stone in eight weeks and improving his mental health. and self-esteem. “Inspiring,” he says.
Another is 80 years old and living with dementia after a career playing semi-professional soccer. His wife hides his equipment because he wakes up every day thinking and waiting for it to be Friday, his favorite day of the week.
The secret is that it's not really about football. Well, it is and it isn't. The secret is that it is whatever you want it to be.
Since hanging up his boots, Busst has led Coventry's efforts in the local community.
Veteran commentator Alan Parry revealed the burgeoning sport has become an important part of his life since he took up the sport after being diagnosed with cancer.
Ron Bannister was one of the originals, a Coventry fan in his 60s and one of the first to sign up after hearing Busst on local radio talk about his plans to walk for football as his beloved Sky Blues lost at Crewe in League One in 2014. .
“I had just retired after 20 years sitting face down all day as a truck driver,” says Ron, 76. “I was 30 and a half stone and looking for something to do to stay healthy, so I went on Tuesday and Thursday nights.
'In eight months I had lost half a kilo and I had never felt so fit in my life. Within 18 months, I agreed to volunteer for Sky Blues in the community.'
In October 2017, Bannister had studied for sports leadership qualifications and accepted Busst's invitation to lead a new group he wanted to set up in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support.
Just before it started, Bannister was told he had prostate cancer. The diagnosis came three days before Christmas a decade ago, so he founded the new walking football group just as he began his own treatment.
To begin with, there were eight players. There are now 38 active members and some lost and fondly remembered.
“This year we lost our oldest member,” Bannister says. 'Harry, he was 92 years old. A week before he died, we had a community day at CBS Arena and he played. We have changed the name of a cup.
It has become a family, like-minded people and common interests. They can talk, share advice and offer practical advice. They are teammates long past the time when they thought they could enjoy the company of a team sport again.
They are there for each other, whether the most pertinent issue of the day is Coventry's recent form and managerial change, an upcoming course of radiotherapy or blisters from smart new boots.