News

The school holiday that has just passed has probably been the busiest we have ever had by far. Having the World Cup in South Africa meant extending these by 2 more weeks which meant more activities for us to fill up the kids’ time and eliminate any form of dullness from their holiday. Of course they had the matches to watch on TV but being there live would obviously be much better! Attending the matches was just one of the activities we had planned for the kids over the holidays. Holiday camps were lined up as well as tournaments for each camp.

Umzingisi has been running holiday camps throughout the duration of the school holidays. Each camp runs from Monday to Friday where a football tournament is held at the end of the week. The camps are comprised of sports coaching but also incorporate the YDF curriculum which coaches the kids in life skills and focuses a lot on HIV/Aids awareness.

Over the Easter holidays, the Port Elizabeth North Soccer Union, commonly known as PENSU (a league affiliating under SAFA), hosted a tournament in which our U/15 team participated and came in 3rd place.

The Easter Weekend Tournament was held at the Finnis Sports Ground and the CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Local Organising Committee, Danny Jordaan, was there to honour the event.

Excitement has been bubbling up amongst our volunteers and local staff with the FIFA 2010 World Cup being held in South Africa. Needless to say, the country as a whole is beyond ecstatic as this is the first time the World Cup has ever been in the African continent.

A selection of School of Excellence youngsters have been chosen to partake in a beach lifesaving course which will culminate in them becoming qualified beach life guards.

Rio-tinto continued their all round support of the School of Excellence kids by providing 180 brand new stationary packs for all of the sponsored children at the School of Excellence. Each pack contained pencils, pens, a ruler, eraser, calculator and scissors. Lubabalo Mpongoshe, Project Manager of the School of Excellence program said, “These pac

The new Philani (place of health) Gym has been opened at the School of Excellence. The coming together of the gym really showed how a group of many individuals can all contribute to make one big project successful. The container where the gym is housed was provided by Anine Auguste, in memory of her late parents, Philocles and Anna-Marie.

United Through Sport was represented at two local fayres over the August bank holiday weekend. Despite competing with the local attractions of duck and sheep racing, dog shows and a very busy ice-cream van, the charity still made nearly £200 selling soup recipe books and wristbands at the Chapel Row Fayre and Cold Ash Fete in West Berkshire.

On 30th May, Matt Burnett, a squash coach from Berkshire, played squash and racketball for 10 straight hours to raise funds for United Through Sport!

The marathon rally was a great event and raised a smashing sum of over £400 for the charity.

100% of the funds will be dedicated to the 2009 campaign to raise £40,000 for the Umzingisi School of Sporting Excellence in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Many thanks go to Matt and all those who sponsored his incredible effort!

Many thanks to Katy Weaver who ran the Reading Half Marathon on 29th March in aid of United Through Sport.

Thanks to her efforts the charity received £160 in sponsorship. Thankfully she didn't require the ambulance that she suggested she might need half-way through the course!

On 10th December, four adventurers took to the desert of Dubai to take part in one of the most challenging Ironman tournaments in the world.

With a 3.8km swim followed by a 180km bike and then a 42km run, the unofficial 'DIY Ironman' is an incredible test of endurance in the unbelievable heat of the UAE.

This year, Phil Hatzis ran, swam and cycled his way to 370km and nearly £1,200 for United Through Sport. The challenge involves completing a series of grueling sporting events starting with The London Marathon in April and culminating in the famous Ironman UK in September.

Last month our Director, Sam Eve, headed south to see how rugby is making a big impact on the lives of young people in Swaziland as they struggle to come to terms with a worrying HIV/AIDS epidemic that now infects more than 1 in 3 of the country’s population. Read Sam's Report below:

After many months in the making, The Umzingisi School of Sporting Excellence will be opening its doors in January to 50 talented young black athletes living in the disadvantaged township community of New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.

Last month United Through Sport helped a squad of 12 rugby-mad children from the Langa township of Cape Town achieve their ultimate dream... To perform in front of South African international rugby legend, Chester Williams, at the final of the touraid U14 International Rugby Cup.

On Saturday 14th October 2006, three brave souls took up the challenge of swimming from the Isle of Wight to Portsmouth, across the choppy waters and shipping lanes of the Solent. All of the swimmers survived the crossing, and in the process raised around £1000 for United Through Sport.

On Sunday 9th July 2006, Dan Woods and Sherden Timmins took on the challenge of the Wycombe half-marathon for United Through Sport.

The two runners posted differing times (the difference being around 30 minutes) but Sherden did wait patiently at the line for his less practised running partner! Together, they raised £750…

Many thanks to all those who sponsored the pair

In support of their great work in caring for vulnerable children in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, United Through Sport has provided a £300 grant to the Maranatha orphanage to buy much needed play equipment for the resident children.

The kit will prove invaluable in providing a stimulating environment for severely disadvantaged kids.

Thanks to a genius spark of imagination and a very different slant on travel writing, Emily Monk, a GAP SPORTS volunteer, has raised nearly £3000 for United Through Sport.

On Saturday 25th October 2005, seven house DJs played to a crowd of 200 revellers at Play Bar in Clerkenwell, London. The event raised over £600 for United Through Sport.

The free-entry event was a great success and was aided by the change of the clocks which allowed the late licences to carry on a little later!

Many thanks to Dan Woods and John Atherton who arranged the venue, DJs and concluded the night with a solid back-to-back set…