Over a 1000 balls donated

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After a generous donation of over a 1000 balls (football, basketball, netball and rugby) and various sports kit from sports manufacturer OPRO, we have been able to distribute this out to our teams in Ghana. A massive thanks goes out to OPRO for this huge support.

“Thank you for the photos! They are lovely. We are extremely happy to see the balls being put to good use.” Sophie Lovat – Development Director

As we continue to build our teams overseas there is a big need to provide a consistent flow of decent sports equipment. Without the right tools for the job we cannot expect our kids to develop to their full potential in their respective sports. So this comes as a huge help.

It is quite a mission for us to ship and transport equipment from the UK overseas, but on rare occasions this is possible. Our preferred method of getting equipment to our partners in Argentina, Ghana and South Africa is to raise funds to purchase the equipment locally. This not only saves the hassle of shipment and import duty costs, it also helps to build up a local economy by supporting sports equipment retailers in the disadvantaged communities where we work.

If you feel you would like to get involved with supporting our equipment distribution project then you can visit our donate page.

The Soccer Store Gives Equipment Donation

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Soccer Store

A big thanks goes out to The Soccer Store for their very generous donation of brand spanking new football kit. Footballs, bibs, cones, water bottles and much more have been given to United Through Sport who will take the kit out to Ghana with them in June. Kids both on the Mass Participation Programme and those joining the School of Excellence will benefit hugely from this generosity.

More About The Soccer Store
The Soccer Store are the UK’s premier football equipment suppliers. They stock speed and agility training aids, footballs, nets and much more. They only use trusted supply sources such as Diamond Football, Samba Sports, Mitre, Precision Training and Koolpak. Customers include amateur and professional football clubs, youth football clubs, schools, and individuals looking for football gear for personal use.

As a quality football equipment supplier make sure you check them out and buy their kit online from their website.

Google Support United Through Sport

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A big thanks goes out to John Shirley who works for Google. Through his fundraising efforts he has managed to get United Through Sport recognised as part of Google’s Match Gift Programme helping secure another $4000 for our project work with disadvantage children overseas.

More on Google’s support for United Through Sport
Giving back is part of Google’s corporate DNA. In 2011, they provided $115 million in grants and more than $1 billion of in-kind support to nonprofits and academic institutions. Google employees also contributed 40,000 paid volunteer hours helping organizations around the world.

Employees at Google like to give back and Google encourage it. Of the many volunteer programs and gift matching initiatives they support, most were started by Googlers themselves.

The Employee Gift Matching
When employees give cash contributions to nonprofits, we match them, providing tens of millions of dollars for charitable work around the globe.

If you are a Google employee and are thinking or fundraising for United Through Sport then please be part of Google’s Matching Gift Programme by reading more at the following link: http://www.google.org

John & Richard Run Comrades (89km)

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A huge thanks goes out to John Shirley and Richard Leech for raising £1500 towards our work. We need even more incredible people like them to get involved with exciting fundraising challenges; not only do you achieve yourself but you also help provide a platform for thousands of kids to reach their potential and achieve in greater areas of their own life!

John and Richard’s Story:
You are probably asking, “Why are we running 89km on Sunday 3rd of June from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in Comrades the biggest and best ultramarathon of our times?”

– Are we crazy? May be!
– Are we celebrating the queens jubilee? We’ll leave that for you to decide.
– Drinking? Yes, of course!
Back in 2010 Richard and I were enjoying a poolside beer at Jafa’s in Hanoi. As usual, I was harping on about this great running book “The Lore of Running” and mentioned one of the featured legends “Bruce Fordyce”, he won Comrades 9 times, unbelievable! Turns out Richard has met Bruce and has lived in Durban so Richard suddenly said “I’d love to run Comrades”. The beer tasted good and the thought of running comrades 89km in the distant future seemed a romantic possibility so I replied. “Why not? I’ll join you!”…….. Now, today, we are about to take on a challenge that seemed totally unthinkable to us even 6 months ago.

Thanks guys for your hard work and achievement.

North Halifax Schools take on the Gold Challenge

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We have taken the excitement of the Olympics, and we’re running with it…literally!

The Olympics has landed on our doorstep and in order to raise our sporting spirits, The North Halifax Federation of Schools, have taken on the Gold Challenge in order to support United Through Sport.

Children and staff from five of their primary schools (Moorside Primary, Ash Green Primary, St. Malachy’s Catholic Primary, Lee Mount Primary and Bradshaw Primary) and one of their secondary schools (Trinity Academy), will be pushing themselves in this attempt to complete 2012km, all in time for the start of the Olympic Games. In various events planned across the different schools, they are planning to run, walk and cycle in order to cover this distance.

A massive thanks goes out to them and good luck with the Gold Challenge.

If you would like to get involved with the Gold Challenge for your school then email [email protected] with your details and interest. You may even want to support the North Halifax Schools by sponsoring them here.

Gold Challenge Olympic Stadium Event

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Last Sunday saw thousands gather at the Olympic Stadium for a once in a life time opportunity to step onto the athletics track with a lucky few even taking part in a 100m race.

Members of the public were taking part in the Gold Challenge Event – a key test event at the Olympic stadium, whilst raising money for charity, including United Through Sport. The Gold Challenge stadium event was a fantastic celebratory event for partners and Gold Challengers, rewarding them for their fundraising and sporting achievements.

Former rugby internationals Austin Healey and Gareth Thomas took to the track and other celebrities including Katie Price also made an appearence.

Everyone who attended played an important role in helping London 2012 prepare for the Games. This is all part of the preparation for the Greatest Show on Earth!

You still have time to take on the Gold Challenge yourself by registering your details here: http://goo.gl/uo3Lu

Thanks to all that took part and making it a truely fantastic day out.

Nike and Roger Federer Support UTS

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United Through Sport South Africa is proud to be one of the first 26 (NIKE)RED grant recipients. This fund is managed by the King Baudouin Foundation and aims to support our new Junior School of Excellence Program with a particular focus on the HIV / AIDS awareness life skills elements of the program.

As a fitting launch to the program Roger Federer Foundation (supported by Nike) also donated 500 t-shirts with “I am Tomorrow’s Future” written across the chest. The JSE has the sole purpose of developing these young children holistically, to give them a brighter future so the t-shirts were very apt.

With UTS being a sport based organisation, it is great to have support from Roger Federer and from Nike, which is by far the most popular sports brand in the township communities. Nike believes in the power of unleashing human potential, both on the field and in life; which is exactly what we strive to do in all our programs, making the relationship between UTS and (NIKE)RED a fitting partnership. The investment (NIKE)RED is making in our Junior School of Excellence will go a long way to realise the potential of our beneficiaries, grooming them to be tomorrow’s future.

Paul Paddles Hard for UTS

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A big thank you goes out to Paul Young from Tunbridge Wells and his team, ‘Apalala’ (means dragon in Chinese), for raising money for United Through Sport at the Bewl Water Dragon Boat Festival in Sept 2011. More than 800 people competed in an amazing display of paddle power, excitement and fun. Since the event began in 1998 well over £1million has been raised for 175 local and international charities.

Get involved at next years event in Bristol.
Taking place on Sunday 23rd Sept 2012 at Baltic Wharf.

This is a brilliant way for teams to have fun and raise money for United Through Sport. People do not have to be fitness fanatics or marathon runners to compete in a team – it’s all about timing and teamwork! Team members aged from 16 to 60+ can paddle and raise money. We suggest teams raise at least £1,750. Each team has 16 paddlers and a drummer in each race but can have 20 or more in the team to include extra paddlers and raise more funds.

To see further details go to www.funraisers.org.uk and click on the event in the dropdown menu. Entry fee for each team is £350 – that’s about £20 per paddler. We would be delighted to have your team involved. Let us know if you are thinking of entering a team so we can keep you fully informed.

Alternatively you can call Pip Lightbody on 07092 222066 for further information.

Come and get involved for a great day out!

Robert Laing takes on 10 Olympic Sports

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Ex-Serviceman Robert Laing is taking on the Gold Challenge and has chosen to tackle 10 sports. Over the coming months he will be training and be coached in ten Olympic sports in order to raise as much money as possible for United Through Sport. In a neat twist Robert is looking to compete for his local clubs in the sports he takes on.

Robert has been training committedly and has already joined local volleyball, rowing, fencing, football and table tennis clubs in a bid to complete his challenge. He is planning to take on many more Olympic and Paralympic sports over the coming months and hopes to increase his challenge from 10 to 20 sports if fundraising goes well.

Robert said, “As an ex-serviceman from The Life Guards I have played many sports in my time and done a few charity events, Gold Challenge seemed unique to me though! I have decided to take the challenge for 10 sports with a view to increasing it to 20 depending on sponsors and donations. The clubs that I am training with have been most helpful in allowing me to train with them!”

A massive thanks to Bob for his efforts and if you wanted to support him in his challenge then check out his fundraising page at the following link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ROBERTLAING

With less than a Year to Go until the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Gold Challenge is the way for the whole country to get involved and join in the excitement of London 2012. The new charity challenge, partnered with Team GB and British Olympic Association, challenges participants to take on Olympic and Paralympic sports to raise money for one of its 125 charity partners.

Challengers sign up for free and choose their challenge or create their own. Challenges include the Olympic Sport Challenge, where participants take on 5 – 30 Olympic & Paralympic sports, the 2012 km Challenge where challengers must cover 2012 km (individually or collectively) in one or more of a group of Olympic & Paralympic sports and the Family Activity Challenge which encourages families to learn Olympic sports together.

If you fancy getting involved then register your details on this page and join our sporty community: http://www.goldchallenge.org/morecharities/unitedthroughsport

Equipment Donations in Ghana

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Everyone here at United Through Sport Ghana would like to take this opportunity in saying a big thank you to six previous volunteers for their immense contribution to our Mass Participation Programme:

Adina Henderson – Tennis Equipment
Toby Lane – Tennis Equipment
Tom Wilson – Football Kit
James Shimmin – Football Kit
Benjamin Odgers – Football Kit
Sam Yates – Rugby Equipment
Adina Henderson and Toby Lane donated tennis rackets, tennis balls and trainers to the Accra Tennis Club, where they volunteered while out in Ghana.

Tom Wilson, James Shimmin and Benjamin Odgers donated football kit and football boots to the United Through Sport football team in Teshie.

Sam Yates donated rugby shirts, rugby boots, rugby balls and cones to the schools and clubs he coached with in Nima, Accra.

Funding is a big issue for Ghanaian sports clubs and schools, with many clubs and schools only having just enough equipment and resources to survive. Donations from everyone are a massive help and will go a long way in helping children succeed in sport.