Children, role models and leaders from across the Levelling the Playing Field network came together to celebrate at our inaugural awards at Decathlon’s flagship Surrey Quays store in London on Saturday.
Over 80 staff and participants from our partners in London, the West Midlands, Gwent and South Yorkshire made the journey to the capital to share success stories and take part in activities such as golf, yoga, table tennis, the virtual reality zone and tennis on the sun-baked rooftop court overlooking Canada Water.
It was fantastic to get the network together from across the biggest project of its kind ever conducted in the UK, uniting people and organisations who use sport and physical activity to engage children and achieve positive change in ethnically diverse communities.
All our partners work tirelessly to support and improve the wellbeing and life chances of their young people, while we share good practice, train frontline staff and help partners evidence their impact in order to scale up and advance future policy, practice and investment.
It was a very tough task for our independent judging panel to choose the winners of our five trophies from the list of deserving nominees in our four delivery areas. The winners were:
YOUNG CHAMPION OF THE YEAR: Nicole McSween – InPower Academy, Wolverhampton
Thirteen-year-old Nicole “shows others how to conduct themselves, not just as a martial artist but as a great human being”, according to InPower CEO and founder Daryl Chambers.
She has volunteered over 120 hours of her own time to help lead half-term holiday activities with children from the local community.
“We have seen female members increase over the last year and Nicole was truly a pioneer for this,” added Daryl. “Without her presence to make other female participants feel welcome and comfortable we can guarantee we wouldn't have achieved the same retention numbers.”
SPECIALIST PARTNER OF THE YEAR: Reach Up Youth, Sheffield (joint winner)
Reach Up, the youth organisation based in the ethnically diverse but underprivileged area of Burngreave, was founded in 2013 by indomitable local resident Safiya Saeed. It achieves incredible impact through its Big Brother Burngreave (young males) and Sisterhood (young females) projects for 12-21-year-olds.
The projects unite youngsters from the many ethnicities represented in the local area through the power of sport. Its unique leadership programme sees young people become leaders and mentors for their younger peers as they progress through the age groups, with their status denoted by the colour of their distinctive t-shirts (blue for high school age, red for college, grey for six ‘champions’ and black for three ‘leaders’).
Young people have complete ownership over the content of their activities. As well as sport, they organise workshops, training and support in mental health, first aid, knife crime, identity, racism, self-esteem, gang culture, body image, forced marriages, self-empowerment and teamwork. “It gives them a safe space to have the sorts of discussions they genuinely don’t get anywhere else,” says Kathryn Mudge, Development Manager at the Yorkshire Sport Foundation, who fund the project.
SPECIALIST PARTNER OF THE YEAR: NPV Football Development, Wolverhampton (joint winner)
NPV Football Development works with 170 registered young people their families, many of whom live in areas of high deprivation, crime and gang-related violence. Their approach centres mainly on intervention – engaging players as young as four before they can be nefariously influenced by older peers, while unifying parents who are often affected by gang activity themselves.
“We give people skills, abilities, resilience and sense of unity as a ‘family’, using the tool of football,” explains founder Joe Jackson.
NPV has a school of excellence for six to 16 year olds which youngsters can graduate into after two years of attendance, if they show sufficient consistency, promise and dedication. They also have a long-standing relationship with Wolverhampton Wanderers and will highlight his very best young players to the Premier League club’s talent scouts. Additionally, players aged 16-18 are given the opportunity to train as a coach.
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SPECIALIST LEADER/ROLE MODEL OF THE YEAR – Kameron Bains, InPower, Wolverhampton (joint winner)
Kameron, 22, has had an undulating journey from being a self-confessed “bad kid” to an inspiring leader and role model to his younger peers at InPower Academy.
Kameron attended InPower’s Unbreakables programme and achieved his Level 1 and 2 coaching qualifications under the tutelage of CEO Daryl Chambers. He also became a sports leader at his school.
Although his road to success wasn’t always smooth, Kameron was later offered the chance to become a workshop facilitator, mentor, youth worker and coach to young people at InPower. "Daryl made me believe this is my path,” said Kameron. “I’m so happy. I’m excited to wake up for work and start my sessions with the young people day-to-day. It's a completely different lifestyle that I live now – and I love. I crave it!”
SPECIALIST LEADER/ROLE MODEL: Jack Badu, Street Soccer London (joint winner)
Jack is the only full-time member of staff at Street Soccer London, who use football to empower anyone affected by social exclusion. Jack has overall responsibility for all Street Soccer London’s youth programmes delivered from the Black Prince Community Hub in Lambeth.
His colleague Laura Foster says: “The unique way Jack coaches and facilitates has undoubtedly led to the success of this programme over the past three years. Anyone who works in the field knows how difficult it can be to deliver day in day out, sessions, spaces and opportunities which keep young people engaged and returning week after week. The reality of successfully creating this environment is much harder than it appears.
“Without inspiring male role models like Jack who strike the perfect balance between coach, confidante and role model, projects like this would not have the wide-reaching and long-term success that we are seeing for the young people who attend, even into their young adult lives."
AWESOME YOUNG COHORT OF THE YEAR: Aptitude Youth, Coventry
This award went to members of a five-a-side football team who all hail originally from Africa and came together through Aptitude Youth’s Levelling the Playing Field sessions in Coventry.
They have become “like a second family” for each other and earned promotion in the local junior five-a-side league before graduating to the adult leagues, thanks to a grant from the Football Foundation. They have now undergone a Sports Leaders qualification with a view to leading football sessions as volunteer coaches and youth workers for the younger generation.
“Aptitude has really helped me and the team. Greg really motivates us and I really appreciate the support we get,” said one team member, Emmanuel. “Some of my other friends go through mental health issues, some of them just hang out and do drugs. Me going to Aptitude really helps me because it gets me involved in something positive.”
COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP OF THE YEAR: Newport partnership, Gwent
A unique partnership of services in Newport is using sport and physical activity to offer life-changing support for local ethnically diverse children – and they all came together through Levelling the Playing Field.
LtPF specialist partners Positive Futures, local primary schools, key community figures and organisations, Newport Youth Justice, police, Sport Wales and even professional boxers have all joined forces to form a strong and trusted support network for local children to protect and divert them from the many nefarious and exploitative influences on the streets.
The philosophy of the Newport partnership can be summed up as ‘connection before correction’; in other words, you need to connect and build a trusted relationship with each child before you can even think about correcting their behaviours. Sport – delivered in safe places and by safe faces – provides the platform where trusting relationships develop.
The day’s winners and nominees went home with armfuls of Decathlon sports goodies and VIP prizes from our funders the London Marathon Charitable Trust.
Levelling the Playing Field project leader Rudro Sen commented: “Congratulations to all our winners and nominees, as well as our event hosts Decathlon and, as ever, our wonderful funders the London Marathon Charitable Trust.
“This has truly been a fantastic day. After the initial 18 months of the project were so affected by Covid-19, it is such a relief and joy to be able to get everyone together to celebrate the impact and progress we’ve made so far.”