PREMIER LEAGUE 4 SPORT
Premier League football clubs are to offer thousands of young people the chance to get involved in Olympic sports in a groundbreaking £3.8m partnership with the Government.
‘Premier League 4 Sport’ will see all Premier League clubs link up with local sports clubs to help attract young people to take up badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball.
Earlier this year Prime Minister Gordon Brown, then Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore launched the project at Tottenham Hotspur’s indoor training dome.
They were joined by Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp and Spurs players Ledley King, Jonathan Woodgate, Michael Dawson and Luka Modric. The players got fully involved in the sports, with King taking part in a volleyball session, Woodgate playing badminton with former Olympic silver medallist Gail Emms, Dawson taking to the judo mat and Modric showing his talent for table tennis.
The initiative will help the Government’s ambition to offer young people five hours of sport a week, as part of its 2012 legacy plans. It will also address the drop-off in sport participation when young people leave secondary school.
Working with the four sports’ National Governing Bodies, the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, the Premier League aim to get 25,000 young people aged between 11 and 16 into the four Olympic sports during the next three years.
Each Premier League club will be linked to four community sport clubs. The 80 sport clubs will also link to four secondary schools in the area creating a total of 320 satellite clubs. Each Premier League club will have a project co-ordinator who will manage the scheme locally and work with clubs and school sport departments to drive the project on.
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown underlined his support for the project when he said:
“This initiative is great news for young people and communities and will help get thousands more teenagers participating in sports over the next few years, building on our goal to get young people doing five hours of sport a week.
“The Premier League, under Richard Scudamore’s leadership, has shown a continuing commitment to community sport and shown how the power of football and strong links with clubs can be used to engage young people and strengthen communities.
“In the run up to 2012, we want to see more young people from all walks of life getting involved in sport. These new clubs are an excellent example of the how the Olympic legacy will benefit people right across the country for years to come and how the Games can be used to inspire more people to get active.”
This initiative is great news for young people and communities and will help get thousands more teenagers participating in sports over the next few years, building on our goal to get young people doing five hours of sport a week. - Gordon Brown, Prime Minister