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New Year Get Active

Made any New Year’s resolutions?  We have a great idea.  Get yourself and your community more active by volunteering some of your time with the Tony Blair Sports Foundation.

Research shows that local sports clubs and community organisations all need more trained volunteers to run more sessions and help more children play sport.

The Foundation is asking local residents to commit to volunteering with a local club in their community and in return the charity will pay for half the training course fees. 

Jeanette Pickard, CE of the Foundation says:
“Clubs across the North East have already benefitted enormously from the extra coaching hours that our members provide.  But with less than a year to the 2012 Olympics we want to make sure young people across the North East are given every opportunity to take part in sport.”

Foundation member, John Renney, an IT Manager from North Shields has achieved his athletics coaching award through the Foundation and is now looking to teach athletics in local schools.
 
John says:
“The Foundation has been a great help. Not just in subsidising my training fees, but also in the support they’ve given me in guiding me through the process and obtaining the right credentials which allows me to work with children.”

I’m currently working with eight kids at my local club on endurance training, and I have started the new UKA Athletics Coach Award as I want to go on to teach primary school athletics. Without the help of the Foundation this would have been much harder for me to do on my own.”

Jeanette adds:
“It is so rewarding to see the result of the hard work put in by our members.  People like John are the real sporting heroes and are making a huge difference to grassroots sport in our region.”

Courses offered by the Foundation over the next few months include:

4th February Level 1 Tennis Coaching course
12th February Athletics Coaching Assistant Course
26th March Leadership in Running Fitness

Further details of how you can get involved as well as course application forms can be found at www.tonyblairsportsfoundation.org or telephone 0191 2760640