Cougars launch ground breaking sports-education awards programme


Keighley Cougars RLFC has officially launched its pioneering 'Sporting Chance' sports-education awards programme.

Cougars has become the first Rugby League club in the country - and is also thought to be the first sporting body - to offer a GCSE-equivalent qualification through the ground breaking initiative.

The project, which is being delivered by Keighley Cougars player and youth project worker Jonny Presley, is designed to equip young people from local disadvantaged communities with new learning and life skills.

Thirty young people from one community in Keighley are the first to join the project. There are future plans to roll out the programme to all communities across the Bradford district.

It is and being run in conjunction with two partner organisations - Incommunities, the Bradford district's biggest social housing landlord, and the national social care charity CRI. It also has the support of the Rugby Football League (RFL).

At the launch event at Cougar Park (Tues, May 18), Cougars foundation manager Dean Muir announced that Incommunities had agreed to continue its funding of the programme for a second year to the tune of £27,000.

He said: "The awards programme is being driven by the young people themselves, helping them achieve their dreams and aspirations in a safe and secure environment. We are regarded as a 'cool' brand and the young people actually want to get actively involved. It represents a great opportunity for them and feedback to date has been extremely positive."

CRI adapted a tailor-made Sporting Chance educational programme to make it accredited and positively address and mitigate some of the serious social issues facing young people in Keighley and district by engaging them in educational and sporting activities away from the drugs and crime seen on some of the estates.

Mary Calvert, CRI's deputy director for West and South Yorkshire, said: "Sport is a fantastic catalyst for change in young people and the Sporting Chance awards programme has laid the foundation for a really rewarding partnership."

Katie Giles, CRI's education, training and employment project manager, explained: "It has been designed as a flexible rolling programme. Through this initiative, we will be actually taking young people forward into their adult lives."

David Gent, the RFL's director of participation and strategic partnerships, said: "What great enthusiasm there is for this project - a real passion to make an absolute difference at a local level.

"It is a tremendous achievement, a programme that is innovative and right at the cutting edge. It really bridges a gap and is set to be a very special part of young people's lives thanks to the efforts of Keighley Cougars, local agencies and communities. This could well be something that UK sport and the rest of the world follows."

Karen Lee, acting director of Incommunities - Aire-Wharfe, said: "Sporting Chance is all about giving young people a fantastic opportunity to be part of something they can be proud of and an opportunity to build better lives for themselves."