Coronavirus: Ten-year-old footballer aims for 7.1m keepy-uppies

A 10-year-old footballer has urged people to help her reach 7.1 million keepy-uppies, one for each UK key worker, to raise money for charities.

Imogen, from Hauxton, Cambridgeshire, has exceeded her target of £1,300 by keeping her football up in the air as many times as she can.

She is managing about 2,000 each day but has also asked for keepy-uppy donations to help her reach her target.

Cambridge United players have already taken on the challenge.

Imogen, who trains with the club's youth development academy, said she was inspired to raise money after seeing Capt Tom Moore, 99, doing laps of his garden to raise millions for the NHS.

But as well raising money for NHS charities, Imogen decided to widen the appeal to cover nine charities, which support what she describes as "Covid heroes".

Her parents, Karl and Sarah, work for the NHS, and she has now raised over £1,600 for multiple charities.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates approximately 22% of all working-age people are employed in key worker occupations in the UK, "equating to 7.1 million adults across the UK".

"My original target was 200 keepy-uppies a day and it was going to take me 97 years to do... but now I'm doing 2,000 a day," Imogen said.

Her dad said when they realised the enormity of the task he told her: "There's the garden, crack on love."

Her personal best is 63 in a row without dropping the ball, but she adds them all together to reach her daily target.

"We would like people to get involved and send keepy-uppies so I can add it to the total," she said.

Cambridge United's head coach Mark Bonner, described Imogen's idea as "absolutely brilliant".

Some of the players have already sent videos of themselves joining in "to cut down the 97 years" - and he pledged the rest of the club would help out.

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