‘Delivering Sport In The Community’

September 2006 - May 2007.

We identified a demand in Aston for more extra-curricular sporting activities, particularly in trying to increase female participation in sports.

We introduced tag-rugby into one school and were hoping to build on this and increase the amount of rugby played within the Aston area.

Sports Sessions

In September 2006 we had a presence in 3 schools within the Aston area. At Birchfield Community School, where we were running netball, tag-rugby after-school clubs and supporting curriculum P.E. by teaching tag-rugby to different year groups. The netball club was for girls only and had a regular attendance of 22 girls.

We also ran a girls-only multi-sports club and had 10 girls regularly participating at Prince Albert, and a netball after-school club in Aston Tower which had an number of girls in attendance.

By October, our word of our good work had spread and we had clubs running in 3 additional schools. These were a girl’s tag-rugby lunch club in Lozells Junior and Infant School, a girl’s netball after-school club and a girl’s tag-rugby lunch club in Mansfield Green, and a mixed football club at Canterbury Cross primary school. 

By the end of the first half term we had increased from 32 girls regularly participating in sport to 55 girls and we had 4 rugby sessions taking place.

These clubs continued throughout the rest of the Christmas Term and into the Spring Term. Numbers remained consistent and Local Leagues continued to provide quality coaching in schools that would not usually receive a high standard of sports.

During the February half-term Local Leagues worked with 2 other organisations to deliver a half-term sports club in Aston. Through the success of this club the demand for activities within schools increased. Yew Tree primary school requested a girls multi-sports lunch club and a cricket lunch club. Sacred Heart began to attend the Birchfield Netball club and numbers increased in all Birchfield activities. Lozells and Birchfield requested basketball sessions and Birchfield also requested cricket sessions during a lunch time.

To date (May 2007) we now have 15 sessions happening within the Aston area per week with about 190 girls participating each week in Local Leagues activities. As well as the school based activities we have also started a Saturday morning netball club in conjunction with Aston Sports Club.

Half Term Holiday Club

From the 12th February to the 16th February 2007, Local Leagues, Birchfield Community School and The King Edwards Aston partnership worked together to deliver a holiday club to the local children of Aston between the ages of 7 and 11. We offered the children 4 hours of intensive quality coaching each day in a variety of sports. The sports covered were football, cricket, basketball, netball, tag-rugby, gymnastics, hockey and multi-skills. During the week we had specialised sessions for girls and boys, i.e. one day was girls only football and another was girls only cricket with the other children participating in different sports simultaneously. The attendance of the club was hampered a little by the snow but we had about 30 registrations by the end of the week and about 50% of these were girls.

As a culmination of the activities that Local Leagues has been running in individual schools, we organised a one-day event at Nechells sports centre for girls in years 5 and 6. There were 11 schools participating competing in football, basketball, tag-rugby and trying out aerobics. The girls had an opportunity to compete against girls of their own age and ability and were inspired to continue to play sport and learnt more about healthy lifestyles. The schools invited were from various wards in Birmingham with a hope to increase social integration between different community groups throughout the city with a primary focus on ethnic minority groups.

A key aim of Local Leagues is to provide sustainability for the activities we initiate within schools. One way we would like to see this happen is for schools to arrange matches between themselves and build links with other schools through events such as the Fit4Sport day on the 23rd March 2007. At this event the staff had an opportunity to network with other teachers and discover what other schools are doing with sports. This will help them to discover how they can work together to maintain the girls’ interest in sport that has developed over the last 6 months through Local Leagues activities. For example, in June we are holding a tag-rugby day for schools from Aston and other areas to attend.

Partnerships

One of the aims of our work was to establish partnerships with other organisations already working within the Aston area. Several relationships have developed:

1. Aston Old Edwardians Rugby Club - Kim Furlong (coach);
2. King Edward VI Aston Sports Development Partnership;
3. Matt Kendall - Football Development Officer - Aston;
4. Phoenix United F.C.;

Sample Testimonies From Beneficiaries

“Your weekly netball sessions…..are very well planned and appropriate to the varying needs of the girls” (Sacred Heart)

“…without the introduction of new sports such as basketball and tag-rugby the children would have a very narrow field of sports to choose from as many teachers find that physical education is a subject to be feared and difficult to teach.” (Birchfield Community School).

“I am thankful to you for teaching me new skills that I have learned” (Roma, Female pupil who attended February Half-Term Club).

Where To From Here?

It is our hope that Local Leagues will be able to continue the work we have started in Aston and that the relationships formed with the schools will continue to develop and multiply.

Through the work Local Leagues has done many girls have begun to show an interest in sport and we would like to see this interest continue and progress as they move into secondary education. Our aim is to branch into secondary schools over the next year and help young people build on the foundations they have acquired at primary level.

Many schools have also requested an opportunity to compete against other schools; either in a league format or as one-off matches. Extra funding could help Local Leagues to develop these types of activity within the Aston area by working with existing organisations in the area and establishing leagues of their own.

It is also our desire to continue to develop and promote rugby in Aston. We would like to see children in Aston feeding into local rugby clubs such as Aston Old Edwardians with an aim to maintaining and supporting existing clubs with new players and providing new players with match opportunities. As well as rugby we would like to see basketball increase in Aston over the next year. Within the next term we will be holding a basketball game between Birchfield Community School and Canterbury Cross in order to kick-start the basketball campaign.

We are hoping to increase the out of school activities, particularly holiday based sports programmes and will be running a full summer scheme at Birchfield Community School for children from the Aston area in conjunction with Aston Sports Partnership and the school.

In conclusion, this year has been a terrific success. We have laid firm foundations for Local Leagues to continue our work in Aston, helping children and young people to benefit from sports participation, social integration and education about healthy lifestyles. It is with enthusiasm and excitement that we look forward to the coming year.