Evesham; Thought4Sport

Evesham; Thought4Sport  

Thought4Sport is a European Social Funded project, working with Young People that are Not in Education, Employment and Training, in order to support them in acquiring the skills, values and opportunities to work towards building a career in sport or other related areas. 

Support sport will be partnering with organisations such as Wallace House Community Centre, Ourside Youth Centre, SGS and Working Word for the duration of this project.

Support Sport will be challenging young people through providing numerous Sports Leaders Workshops in the Evesham Area, at The Adventure Playground (Woodlands) which will offer transferable skills from problem solving,creativity,teamwork,communication skills and public speaking,to the skills that are more specific to sport such as refereeing,coaching,adapting games for fun and working with children and young people.

"We see the Adventure Playground as an ideal place for us to work with young people, they can come and focus and really engage in building a brighter future through sports leadership"

Support Sport in action in a recent project in Stratford Upon Avon

The project will benefit the participants socially by bringing them together to meet new people from different walks of life. Thought4Sport will improve the employ-ability of each individual giving them the skills they need to find employment, casual work, volunteering roles, but more importantly the confidence, values, responsibility and aspirations at the end of the project.

"The project really isn't about a qualification or other short term benefits, young people that are out of work have a journey to travel before they can find an occupation that suits their needs, personality and skills. We aim to find those skills, build them and showcase them, to provide a platform towards future success! Joe Graham, Director 

Support Sport are also please to announce that we have recently confirmed funding from Comic Relief, and that will allow us to provide the young people that access our project, the opportunity to assist and deliver live sports sessions in their community, in a supervised environment, for children to enjoy. Young people will continue to receive mentoring from tutors during this period, gaining feedback for their positive work in the community.

Support Sport have run similar projects in the past in areas such as Stratford Upon-Avon, Warwick and Kenilworth, where young people continue to seek our support on projects such as Kenilworth minigames and Leamington Futsal which are great examples of parts of our project in Evesham.




If you would like to inquire or book onto the programme, use the contact details below:
Email:supportsport@live.co.uk Tel: Joe Graham on 07801 597666. Twitter: @graham_joe

Sports Leaders From Warwick - Unity in the Community!

Tutor Mark Morrey with
group on a theory task

In February last year Support Sport embarked on a project to increase the levels of cohesion and community spirit in the areas of North and West Warwick, specifically targetting the Percy and Packmores estates.

The ethos of our project, Unity in the Community, was to use the engagement that sports can provide, coupled with the trust, respect and teamwork that becoming a leader would need to not only provide a friday night diversory away from alcohol, drugs and anti-social behaviour, but to actually provide a long term change in mindset for
young people to become role-models, peer mentors and inspirational leaders within their own communities.

After evaluating the project and speaking to YP about the effect it has had on both their lives and the lives of young people in their communities, or that they have worked with since they completed the project, we have realised exactly how big the potential impact of this project is!

Charles Brooke Taylor Setting up
a game he had to make up from
scratch

Some of the YP had not been involved in employment, education or training for some time (NEET) and we demonstrated that engagement and positive relationships can be the answer to engaging young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

After completing an evaluation of the project, this will shortly be available for people to see. The feedback has been extremely positive from all that it hs effected.

One of the young people recently undertook an intyerview, and made the following statement:

"I finished school at 16 and was out of work until i was 20, i was hanging around on the streets for this period of time smoking weed and causing trouble with my friends and not caring about my future and career. Joe then said to me that he was going to be running a course at Woodloes School to develop young people into sports leaders.

 I said i would do it but when the night actually came i had no motivation to go.. I missed the first 2 weeks due to lack of confidence and motivation but Joe came round my house and persuaded me to go on the course because he knew it would change my life and benefit me in the long run. 

For the first couple of weeks i didnt want to go but when i was actually there i really enjoyed it and continued to attend the course. It has changed my life becuase i am now doing an apprentiship in sports and getting all my qualifications.

I havent had the best of pasts and even now some things come back and bite me but working with Support Sport has given me the stability to move forward"

Tutor Joe Graham raising debate over
the importance of a variety skills to be a leader

Jack and Stacey, from Warwick,
organising our tournament held at Woodloes
Primary School

To complete their qualification, young people held an event (Football Tournament at Woodloes School), which was extremely successful and we are now looking to sustain this each year as a fundraising event.

The event will hold its own page with pictures and videos in future! Many of the young leaders have also continued to volunteer for us and their local sports clubs (see pics below)!

Kenilworth Mini Games, set up by young people
 for younger peers

Finally, a massive thanks to Warwick District Council, Warwickshire County Council and Awards for All (Big Lottery Fund) for their contributions and funding support for the length of the project, and congratulations to the following YP for their efforts/completion of:

Sports Leaders Level 1 Award

• Ella Keal
• Tyler Connelly
• Paul Burton
• Zoe England
• Steph Riley

• Jordan Bass

• Amy Swallow

• More to be added on confirmation  

Sports Leaders Level 2 Award

• Tyler Coleman
• Jonny Shaw
• Charlie Chapman
• Emily Saunders
• Charles Brooke-Taylor
• Jack Washbrooke
• Linda Turner
• Corrie Mancini
• Nick Bolitho
• Ashley Dickson
• Stacey Doughty
• Lentine Shaw
• Callum Anderson
• Natalie Raby
• More to be added on confirmation
You can now also donate to this project through local giving, please click the button below: