Inspirational groups celebrated at 2025 Sported Awards
By Sported | 11 June 2025
The capacity of sport to inspire the next generation of young people is as great and as necessary as it was in 2012, as Sported unveiled the winners of its 2025 Awards.
The charity’s founder and patron Sir Keith Mills, placed that ambition as one of the primary goals of London 2012 when he led the bid team to land the Olympics and Paralympics before taking a central role in delivering a hugely successful Games for the UK.
Achieving that legacy led the businessman to set up the charity Sported, which now supports thousands of grassroots sports clubs and organisations around the country to transform lives and strengthen their communities.
Speaking as Sported recognised the ways in which these groups use sport to create positive impact, Mills underlined the importance of backing their collective work and recognising its value at a local and national level among deprived and disadvantages parts of society.
“Sport helps young people navigate challenges in life and it’s vital we empower clubs and organisations across the UK to be a source of support, guidance and a positive influence,” he said. “These groups and the inspirational leaders who run them are a beacon of hope, no matter your background or circumstance.
“The challenges across our society remain huge but grassroots sport serves as a real unifying tool amid our communities.
“Not everyone can – or even wants to – chase an Olympic or Paralympic gold medal. But we all want to find a place where we can belong. And the clubs and groups on our doorsteps who provide this deserve the backing they need to open doors for our next generation, especially for those from communities who are under-served and most in need of help.”
2025 Sported Awards Winners
- Unsung Hero of the Year – Daniel Sukula, Be The Change
- Commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion – Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club
- Commitment to Sustainability – Brighter Futures
- Campaign or Initiative of the Year – Nurturing Foundations
- Outstanding Collaboration & Partnerships Award – Shanklin VYCC/Shanklin FC
- Contribution to Enhance Community Safety Award – Mile End Community Project
- Sported Project of the Year – Sports Fun 4 All
- Best Place to Volunteer – Rathgael Gymnastics and Tumbling Club
Among the Sported Award winners were Mile End Community Project in London who received the Contribution to Enhance Community Safety Award for their campaign entitled, “The First Responders”, a creative and community-led initiative designed to raise awareness of how simple, early actions can help save lives in emergency situations.
They created awareness to remind the public that anyone can step up and take action before professional help is on the scene through the emergency services.
Zakaria Hussein, Mile End Community Project, said: “To be nominated and to then win is an absolutely amazing feeling.
“Sported has given us the platform to be able to support the work that Mile End Community Project is doing, and equally, moving forward through this opportunity and recognition, that we’ll be able to work more closely and more collaboratively to complete the next stage of the project.”
Dundee Dragons Wheelchair Sports Club were recognised for their outstanding work in disability sport around Tayside and Perthshire, creating an adaptive cycle programme that’s now helping users from aged eight to 75 as part of a wide-ranging effort to ensure accessible activities and opportunities to take part.
Graham MacBain from the group said: “The warm glow comes from seeing the faces of the people taking part in the cycling that we do. People who may have had a life-changing event and never thought they would experience the chance to be mobile in such a way as coming along and joining us in our adaptive cycling. To see the smiles on someone’s face, it fills you up to know you’ve done something worthwhile.”
The chief executive of Sported, Sarah Kaye called for greater support of grassroots sport, insisting the list of winners are just the tip of the iceberg in underlining the immense contribution of the sector.
“Clubs up and down the country are producing astonishing impacts in their local communities, and the Sported Awards throws a spotlight on how they make a difference to so many with their work,” she said.
“We know that the vast majority of this is done by volunteers and that not enough funding is being made available to support them in what they do, let alone help them to invest further into the lives of people in their villages, towns and cities.
“Without sufficient resources, these trusted community lynchpins are at risk. However, there is an immense opportunity for government and private sector partners to invest into what they accomplish and unleash the power of these local heroes to achieve even more.”
2025 Vanessa Brown Awards for Volunteering
- Big Impact – Ravi Vedi
- Celebrating Diversity – Bevis Allen
- Sported Champion – Neil Yeomans
- Vanessa Brown Award for Outstanding Achievement – Simon Gledhill