The Appeal provides a huge opportunity for Sported to firstly recognise and promote the work of our members who make up the Sported network and secondly, to raise much needed funds for Sported to continue to provide its services free of charge to all 2,600 member groups across the UK.
On behalf of Sported and our members, we’d like to express our gratitude to The Times and Sunday Times for supporting this important work.
Covid-19 has proved much less lethal for the young but has had a cruel impact in other ways. They have seen their schools and playgrounds closed, exams cancelled and grassroots sport shut down. Even before the pandemic, hundreds of youth clubs closed as investment in youth services fell by £1 billion from 2010 to 2019.
Sported, uses the power of sport to help young people overcome challenges, from mental health struggles and disability to exclusion from school, crime, racism and physical inactivity.
I’m excited to announce that I have accepted the role of Ambassador for @sported_UK who help young people thrive through #grassrootsport. Find out more at 👉https://t.co/8a2Wr7ZtKB#SportedUK
— Eric Dier (@ericdier) November 30, 2020
The 2,600 groups within our network are deeply rooted within their communities and led by highly committed, passionate local people who often give up their time voluntarily to run initiatives that help young people from their community to succeed.
These volunteer-led groups use sports such as football, basketball, boxing, rugby and horse riding to help young people build the skills and resilience they need to flourish.
However, grassroot groups are often under-funded and under-resourced.
Our role is to empower the local heroes running these groups by providing much needed professional expertise, resources and operational support, free of charge, to help their group survive and thrive.
