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South Africa Netball Girls Visit UK

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At this moment ten pupils from the Junior School of Excellence (JSE) program are in the UK for a sports and cultural exchange tour sponsored by touraid. The under-13 girls are taking part in netball and touch rugby tournaments and will experience some cultural activities during their time in England.

The girls, along with the Junior School of Excellence netball head coach, Miss Cadala, and United Through Sport director, Nick Mould, left Port Elizabeth on Tuesday the 1st October; where they were seen off at the airport by overly-excited parents and teachers. The send-off was very emotional as all the ladies were travelling outside South Africa for the first time, with the experience of flying on a plane… a first for the young stars.

During their time overseas, the team will have an opportunity of mixing with a group of girls from Kenya who are visiting England at the same time. Visits to Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street have been arranged and the group will also go on the famous London Eye and go and watch their first ever live English rugby match.

We are extremely grateful to be working with touraid to afford such a life time experience to the youth in our programs. This is the second sponsored tour that we have been granted by touraid, with the first one in 2009 where a group of rugby boys travelled to England for the same period of time. We hope the relationship between United Through Sport and touraid has even bigger prospects in the future.

The touch rugby team captain, Tasneem Webb, said she was excited to play in the UK. “I want to be famous, I want to be seen playing for the school”.

Eagerly waiting their return on the 13th October to hear all about the tour, we trust the girls will have fun, represent the organisation well and fly high the South African flag in the UK!

Scholarship Awards Ceremony in Ghana

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Thursday 26th September 2013 was a very special day for United Through Sport Ghana as the first ever Scholarship Awards Ceremony was held in Teshie, Accra and the very first intake of talented young football and tennis players received their Scholarships to the School of Excellence.

For the last 6 months the Ghana Team have travelled the length and breadth of the country in search of the country’s most talented young Tennis and Football players. Over 1000 boys were originally selected and this has now been whittled down to just 26 lucky boys who were awarded a scholarship for the United Through Sport School of Excellence. The scholarship will provide these boys with a good quality basic education and training in their chosen sport of either Tennis or Football. For those boys who do not live in close proximity to the United Through Sport Ghana office in Teshie, they will also receive food, accommodation and support during term times.

The ceremony was attended by the boys receiving their scholarships, their parents and family members, volunteers, coaches, staff and other boys who are still going through the selection process and hope to receive a scholarship of their own in the future. The ceremony began with a warm welcome and speech from James Dzandza, Director of United Through Sport Ghana, and an opportunity for parents to ask questions about their sons futures with United Through Sport. The presentation of scholarship certificates to the lucky final 26 boys followed, each certificate was presented by a representative of United Through Sport Ghana and the boys were accompanied by their parents for individual photos as they were presented.

After all of the formalities it was time to celebrate the boys achievement and this huge milestone for United Through Sport Ghana… big smiles were seen all around, not only from the boys but from their parents, family, volunteers and of course the United Through Sport team.

Impromptu entertainment was laid on by an older brother of one of the boys receiving their scholarship who showed off his impressive football skills to parents.

The afternoon was a huge success on all accounts and we wish the lucky scholarship recipients the very best of luck in their studies and training with United Through Sport.

Facilities Boost for School of Excellence

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There have been some exciting new developments at the Junior School of Excellence (JSE); the sports facilities are looking great! The children are very excited to start playing on their upgraded facilities, which will do wonders for their skills development. The upgrade of the facilities was sponsored by terres des homes Germany through the, ‘A Chance To Play Programme’ as part of their on-going support of United Through Sport’s mission to bring the opportunity of playing structured sports activities to every child in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The all round facility upgrade included building a new netball court, two cricket nets, rugby and football posts, a spectator stand for up to 70 people and purchasing an industrial lawn mower and line marking machine to allow the school to maintain the rugby and football fields.

The new facilities have now allowed the School to enter into the local Super 12 competition where they will be the only township school competing. This was previously not possible as they were unable to host home matches against top (former model c) schools. The children are all very excited at the thought of hosting multi-racial schools and playing against “abelungu” (white people) at home, as this will be a first amongst the township schools of the area.

These new facilities have been a great boost for the school and fantastic starting point, the next goal is to raise funds to extend the netball court to a tennis court and improve the hockey playing surface.

“I am so excited to play our first match at home, it will be the first time my dad can come and watch me play, and he will sit in the stands to watch me, like I am a professional!” – Zizipho Ndongeni, 12 yrs old, grade 7

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.

UTS Drive Through 10 African Countries

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Today sees our man, Richard Bennett, venture out into the African Continent taking sport, health and educational messages to thousands of children.

Richard and his team of 5 will spend 6 months in two Land Rovers (very cosy) visiting 15 schools in 10 African countries, taking important life skill messages to kids through the powerful medium of sport.

Over the past week the team assembled, in Hertfordshire, for some intense training and bonding excercises. The team also got stuck into sorting out all the equipment that will be left with each African school along their visit, including rugby balls, pumps, cones, bibs, whistles and referee jerseys.

Jon Parry from Training Expertise, worked with the team, helping each member to become aware of different situations which could be potentially hazardous during the expedition. The activities gave the team an insight into proper care in remote locations, where sufficient medical assistance is sometimes not available.

The team were also able to spend valuable time with legendary Welsh International and British Lions full-back, JPR Williams, talking through the various elements of this year’s mission, where rugby and it’s values are so key to the delivery of the programme.

“As with all things, the preparation is very important, you’ve prepared very well for it. It’s quite exciting really, this all coming to fruition. We wish you all the best and our thoughts will be with you and let’s hope we can help the children of Africa to take on what is a great game of rugby union.”
JPR Williams

From all in the United Through Sport community we wish Richard a successful and sports fuelled trip. We believe this team truely have the power to touch the lives of many children and our thoughts go with them.

Keep coming back to our website to see updates on the team’s progress as they navigate their way through Africa

Launch of the new Soccer Fun Bus

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A new project under the A Chance To Play (ACTP) project umbrella (funded by VW Works Council through Terres des Hommes Germany) within United Through Sport South Africa is a real eye-catcher! The colorful Soccer Fun Bus was launched recently with qualified trainers and the necessary equipment on board to visit schools and other facilities in and around Port Elizabeth, offering sport and play opportunities for girls and boys. The physical activities are accompanied by special training sessions for children and young people on relevant topics such as HIV and AIDS, gender equality and self esteem and decision making. The initiative that also has support from Volkswagen South Africa, making the bus available, and the German State of Lower Saxony will reach out to more than 12000 children in 2010.

In recent months United Through Sport South Africa (UTS SA) has already visited some 30 schools in underdeveloped areas and presented different sports codes as part of an ACTP road show. Nick Mould, Director of UTS SA explained, “Thanks to the bus we can now broaden our impact and also visit other schools outside the Nelson Mandela Bay, we can now take our key life-skills curriculum to areas that seldom see any kind of intervention”.

Crazy Marathon Canoeists

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On 2nd July 2006, a group of river-hardened canoeists took to the Thames to paddle 26 miles for United Through Sport. The team took in the picturesque sights of Marlow, Bourne End, Bray and Windsor on their way to the hard-fought finish.

The marathon event raised over £400 for the charity.

Many thanks to the Marlow Canoe Club for all their support.