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Young people in Newham get into the Olympic spirit

Tuesday 10 July 2012

Every Child a Sports Person

More than 250 young people in Newham have done something not even Michael Phelps or Tyson Gay have managed to do yet – to train at Team USA’s training camp during the London 2012 Olympic Games, SportsDock.

The Every Child a Sports Person (ECASP) programme, a special pilot project in Newham, is designed to offer year seven students the opportunity to work with community sports clubs in a world class training facility, including the new £21million SportsDock facility at UEL’s Docklands Campus.

SportsDock staff in partnership with Newham Council, UEL’s School of Health, Sport and Bioscience and local sports clubs, delivered the ECASP sessions to local schools. As part of the programme, students took part in training sessions at SportsDock with West Ham Boys Amateur Boxing Club and London Lynx Volleyball Club among others. Students from local schools including Rokeby School & Royal Docks Community School were given advice on how to go about joining university and campus life in general.

Through the ECASP programme, students are introduced to a range of new sports in the hope that the next generation of Olympic athletes can be identified. Students are asked to take part in a series of tests including balance, flexibility, strength, power, and agility. These results are fed back to the schools following the programme.

David Cosford, Director of Sport at UEL said: "We are delighted to be involved in Every Child a Sports Person, which enables local students the chance to use our brand new sports facility and develop sports skills outside of those traditionally taught in schools. Through ECASP, we are encouraging students who enjoyed trying a new sport to join a community club and to keep involved.”

If the project is successful, Every Child a Sports Person will be delivered to every year seven students across all 15 secondary schools in Newham - over 4,000 students.

From September, local schools will have the opportunity to use SportsDock for weekly activity sessions, sporting competitions or organised school sports days. The state of the art sports facility offers two sports arenas and outdoor five a-side pitches for schools and groups to use at competitive rates.

As Team USA will be using SportsDock as its training base for the London 2012 Games, the facility officially closed to members on Sunday, 8 July and will reopen - with the exception of arena two – on Thursday, 16 August.

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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