11-Year-Old British Girl Starts 'Kipiepi Challenge'... 7.1 Million 'Ball Lifting' Attempts

Imogen Pabworth-Heidel. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana Han] An 11-year-old girl in the UK has inspired many by achieving an astonishing 7.1 million keepie uppies (ball lifting) over seven months to raise funds for workers.

Keepie uppies is the act of continuously kicking a ball with the feet without letting it fall to the ground.

According to the Daily Mail on the 7th, 11-year-old Imogen Fabworth-Heidel, who lives in Hoxton, UK, heard in April that film director Tom Moore was running a fundraising campaign for the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and resolved to do something to help others as well.

While thinking about how she could help people, Imogen learned that there are 7.1 million key workers across the UK?including police officers, firefighters, bus drivers, postal workers, social workers, and supermarket employees?who work for the safety and well-being of the public.

Imogen, who trains at the youth academy of the football team Cambridge United, decided to perform her specialty, keepie uppies, for each of these workers.

She also planned to raise donations for the workers through this effort. She significantly increased her daily keepie uppies from 200 to over 5,000.

When Imogen realized that doing 200 keepie uppies a day would take 97 years to reach 7.1 million, she called on people worldwide to join her.

Imogen posted on the online donation site 'JustGiving' to appeal for participation in the challenge.

As a result, about 2,000 people joined the donation activity by filming their own keepie uppies videos and sending them to Imogen's parents. The donated keepie uppies reached an impressive total of 5,976,414.

Notably, players such as Marcus Rashford from the prestigious English Premier League team Manchester United, as well as British singers Spandau Ballet and Martin Kemp, also participated in the keepie uppies donation, drawing attention.

Imogen achieved 1,123,586 keepie uppies herself over 195 consecutive days without rest. Especially during the period when schools were closed and summer vacation continued due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she sometimes did over 7,000 keepie uppies a day.

On the 4th (local time), Imogen successfully completed her last 3,000 keepie uppies at Abbey Stadium, home of the Cambridge United football team.

She concluded her 7-month-long challenge of 7.1 million keepie uppies on that day.

The donations raised through this challenge amounted to ?14,167 (approximately 21 million KRW), far exceeding the target amount of ?7,100 (approximately 10.47 million KRW).

Imogen said, "I never thought the challenge would be completed so quickly," adding, "I am so amazed by the donated keepie uppies and the amount raised that I am speechless."

Imogen's father, Carl Imogen, said, "I counted the keepie uppies donated to my daughter from around the world every day until midnight. She could have just played computer games at home, but she accomplished the keepie uppies challenge," praising her.