£45,000 is being donated to youth sport projects in London by the Balfour Beatty Sports Development Grant with Capital FM’s Help a Capital Child Scheme, adding to the £0.35 million that has already been donated in the last eight years.
This year’s grants will benefit over 3,000 children across 19 London boroughs, providing free taster sessions, professional coaching and equipment purchase in 20 sports, including several Paralympic sports.
Since the Sports Development Grants programme began, funds have been used to create sports clubs that lead young athletes on a competition pathway to represent their borough at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games (BBLYG). Alumni of the BBLYG include British Champion skier Chemmy Alcott, who is currently representing Team GB in the Sochi Winter Olympics.
Among this year’s beneficiaries is Haringey. The borough was deeply affected by the 2011 London Riots, but through a concerted community effort, it was the most improved borough at the 2013 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games. This year’s Sports Development Grant now looks to build on this achievement with a multi-sport initiative that will benefit over 1,500 young people.
Olympic and World cycling gold medallist and patron of the 2014 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Joanna Rowsell said: “It is really important that we maintain the momentum of London 2012 by ensuring young people have the opportunity to take part in competitive sport.
“The Balfour Beatty Sports Development Grants with Capital’s Help a Capital Child are particularly effective at opening doors to young people to take part in less traditional sports such as BMX, judo and archery that they might not be exposed to at school.
“The grants enable young people to discover a new activity and discover something about themselves, leading to a lifetime of sporting participation.”
Balfour Beatty CEO Andrew McNaughton said: “Following London 2012, the Olympic Legacy is not just the responsibility of our politicians and community leaders; businesses can and should play their part too.
“We are proud to have contributed to the ongoing transformation of the Olympic park, and are equally proud to be ensuring the Olympic Legacy is continued by helping communities to fund youth sports programmes in the capital.
“With Balfour Beatty London Youth Games alumni competing at the London 2012 Olympics and now in the Sochi Winter Olympics, we trust this year’s grants will help to nurture talent for future Olympic Games.”
Emma Bradley, Director of Help a Capital Child said: “By continuing to co-fund the Sport Development Grants with Balfour Beatty, everyone at Capital Help a Capital Child is delighted to be playing our part in ensuring thousands more of London’s young people are given regular opportunities to participate in sport.
"For us, there can be no better London 2012 legacy than funding community sport activities and having ambassadors like Joanna Rowsell is inspiring for young Londoners of all abilities.”
2014 FUNDED PROJECTS
|
BOROUGH |
PROJECT NAME |
SPORTS |
ESTIMATED BENEFICIARES |
AWARD |
|
Barking & Dagenham |
Multi-Sport ParaGames project |
Athletics, swimming, boccia, football, wheelchair basketball |
125 |
£4891.75 |
|
Hounslow |
Powell’s People |
Multi-Disability |
100 |
£3132.38 |
|
Lewisham |
Tennis for all |
Tennis |
204 |
£4991.00 |
|
Southwark |
Volleyball & ParaGames swimming |
Volleyball, ParaGames swimming |
100 |
£4400.00 |
|
Newham |
Wheels & Water Stars of Newham |
Cycling, Kayak, Sailing |
150 |
£2000.00 |
|
Croydon |
Croydon Volleyball Project |
Volleyball |
55 |
£2000.00 |
|
Hackney |
Development of Boys and Girls Handball |
Handball |
124 |
£2000.00 |
|
Lambeth |
Lambeth Swimming |
Swimming |
20 |
£2000.00 |
|
Bexley |
Bexley Fencing Club Development |
Fencing |
43 |
£1800.00 |
|
Westminster |
Angling – Get Hooked |
Angling |
20 |
£1500.00 |
|
Brent |
Junior Badminton Development |
Badminton |
115 |
£1974.00 |
|
Hillingdon |
Inspired by Hillingdon |
Multi-Disability |
50 |
£2000.00 |
|
Haringey |
Active Youth Moving Up |
Handball, Rugby, Table Tennis, Trampolining, Swimming, Boccia, Hockey, Water Sports |
1555 |
£2000.00 |
|
Bromley |
Hands Up For Handball |
Handball |
125 |
£2000.00 |
|
Merton |
Merton BMX & Rowing |
BMX, Indoor Rowing, Adaptive Indoor Rowing |
212 |
£1580.00 |
|
Ealing |
Get Involved..Give It A Go |
Angling, Archery, Badminton, Cycling, Indoor Rowing, Squash |
120 |
£2000.00 |
|
Wandsworth |
ParaGames |
Athletics, Swimming, Football, Boccia, Wheelchair Basketball, Adaptive Indoor Rowing |
50 |
£2000.00 |
|
Havering |
Para-Power Athletics |
ParaGames Athletics |
75 |
£1500.00 |
|
Redbridge |
Junior Squash Coaching |
Squash |
15 |
£1100.00 |
To find out more about the competing or volunteering at London Youth Games, visit www.londonyouthgames.org or follow @ldnyouthgames on Twitter
Videos:
Joanna Rowsell, Patron of 2014 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB8W02PYnMI
Find out more about the London Youth Games
For further information:
Chris Broadbent, Communications Manager
T: 020 7717 1571
M: 07736 344744
E: chris@londonyouthgames.org
F: www.facebook.com/londonyouthgames
T: @ldnyouthgames
W: www.londonyouthgames.org
Notes to editors:
About Balfour Beatty London Youth Games (BBLYG)
BBLYG are unique because they involve all 33 London Boroughs and 26 National Governing Bodies (NGBs), 81 competitions and 30 sports
The Balfour Beatty London Youth Games are open to all Londoners aged 7-18
Europe’s largest annual youth sports event
The 2013 Balfour Beatty London Youth Games were the biggest in the event’s 36 year history with 114,463 participants
Balfour Beatty is the title sponsor of the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games. Balfour Beatty’s sponsorship began in 2006 and will continue until at least 2015
Partners include Sport England, Thames Water, 95.8FM Help a Capital Child
Sport England invests National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport. For more information, seewww.sportengland.org
