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Cara Receives Scholarship to Play Football Overseas

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Cara is one of our Youth Rising Programme participants who has recently received a scholarship to play football at Tennessee Wesleyan University in the United States. She has always had a dream to play overseas and has worked hard to achieve her goals!

From a young age, Cara has been passionate about playing football and has pursued her passion. Growing up, there weren’t many girls teams for her to join but she didn’t let that dissuade her and so she joined the boy’s teams. As she got older, more options opened up for her and she now plays for the semi-professional South African Women’s League.

Receiving a scholarship to play overseas means that she is one step closer to achieving her goal of becoming a professional football player. While this is great news, unfortunately, the scholarship does not cover all of the costs and we need help from United Through Sport supporters to cover the additional costs. Please donate to help Cara on her way to playing for a university team in the United States!

While Cara prepares to study and play overseas she is still actively involved in the United Through Sport Youth Rising Programme, receiving one-on-one mentorship and coaching younger football players from her area. She is focused on preparing herself to study and play overseas. We are excited to continue to support her on her pathway to success and your support will get her one step closer to reaching her goal!

 

 

Oxford Brookes Student Runs Ironman For United Through Sport

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Oxford Brookes Business Management and Geography student Chris Zahn has completed the Weymouth Ironman in order to raise money for United Through Sport projects.

A promising rower in his late school years, having represented Great Britain at the Junior rowing championship in Rio and winning the Henley Royal Regatta with his University, Chris, unfortunately had to stop competing prematurely due to a back injury in sustained in 2017. He used this time of disappointment as a chance to refocus and decided to test himself in this year’s Weymouth Ironman, and decided to compete as a fundraiser for United Through Sport!

“I decided to pick United Through Sports because I really wanted to give back to the sporting community that had given me so much and had allowed me to do some amazing things and go to some amazing places.” 

Chris set an initial target of £250 but was delighted to surpass that, finishing with a total of £335 to support our global grassroot projects. United Through Sport is eternally grateful for Chris’ efforts and those who supported his fundraising.

Cameron Bellamy Swims From Barbados to St Lucia to Raise Funds for United Through Sport.

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On Friday the 13th of September endurance athlete Cameron Bellamy will be attempting to swim from Barbados to St Lucia to raise funds his departing island Barbados, his arrival island St Lucia, as well as his home country, South Africa. Cameron has a large focus on making a difference in youths lives with education and development. The funds raised for United Through Sport will be going towards our learn to swim programme which has been running for two years. With this we hope to be able to expand and reach even more children in the island of St Lucia. 

This swim has never been attempted before, the swim is a massive 160km long and is expected to take 60 hours to complete.

Cameron will start his endeavour from St Peters Bay, north west coast of Barbados, and end in Vieux Fort in the south of St Lucia. Previously Cameron has swam around the entire island of Barbados he was the first person ever to complete this and it was the 4th longest open water swim ever. Cameron has also completed the The Oceans Seven which is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. 

You can track his progress here: https://ubunye.web.app

We wish him all the best for the journey and any funds raised are greatly appreciated and will go along way with developing swimming skills for the children of St Lucia. 

  

Virgin London Marathon

Run the London Marathon 2015

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Take part in this great event and run the London Marathon whilst also representing United Through Sport.

If you think you have the fitness, like a challenge and also want to help raise some money for our work in transforming lives through sport then we need you.

We have a place for someone to run for us but we will need you to raise a minimum of £1750 for the charity. If you think that is achievable then you need to get in touch with us now and fill in the application form.

Read how to apply by visiting our ‘London Marathon 2015 – Run for United Through Sport‘ page.

Be part of something amazing in 2015.

Another Year of Colour Run

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It was that exciting time of the year again where our children had the chance to get involved in the “Happiest 5km Run on the planet”! The Color Run in Port Elizabeth (South Africa) took place on Sunday 24th August, and as the charity partner of the event, United Through Sport was very involved in the preparation and organisation for the big day. From packing the goodie bags to manning the “colour stations” on race day, United Through Sport provided over 40 volunteers to ensure the success of the event.

On a few evenings leading up to race day, our international volunteers took pleasure in getting together registration packs and preparing logistics for the run. It was bitter sweet for 20 of the 40 volunteers who would be leaving South Africa just a day before the race, but they made the most of their involvement and had ultimate fun in the registration process.

Having never heard of The Color Run before, the children from the Junior School of Excellence program were super excited to be taking part in such a colourful day! The cold and rainy weather on the morning of the race had no chance of dampening their spirits; they were just too happy and energized to be getting cold! Singing along to their favourite happy tunes and unexpectedly seeing United Through Sport staff at the colour stations shooting them with bursts of colour made the run even more fun for our kids.

The kids had such a blast competing as to who would be the most colourful by the end of the day, with the intention of giving their parents a difficult job getting their clothes clean; the wet weather being great assistance in their plans. It’s not clear who won the most colourful prize though between the United Through Sport volunteers and the kids, as the volunteers were on a mission of their own to end their South African volunteer experience on the happiest and most colourful note!

We were very happy to be nominated as the charity partner in the second year running of The Color Run Port Elizabeth. It indeed proved that last year we did a great job, and we wish to continue with the partnership in the future. All funds donated by The Color Run will go towards our scholarship program, ensuring better educational pathways for the children in the Junior School of Excellence as they progress to high school.

“What a crazy and fun day this was, I just let go and went crazy along with all the runners; it really is the happiest event ever!” – Siyamthanda Ngcakana, Rugby, Junior School of Excellence.

A Different Way to Fundraise

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We love hearing about all the weird and wonderful ways that people like to support and help fundraise for United Through Sport and we encourage you to come up with something unique and interesting.

Recently, sports enthusiasts, Lynsey and Chris Davis, held a naming ceremony for their two children, Max and Ben. Instead of asking for gifts (as we are sure Max and Ben have plenty of toys already!), the very generous couple decided that they would ask friends and family to donate towards United Through Sport, so children less fortunate could also benefit. Through this very simple but effective idea, not only have they been able to raise over £500 but they have also sent out an important message about recognising what we have so that we are able to share more with others.

The ceremony had plenty of people enjoy a fun and gamed fueled day, providing a great opportunity to get friends and family together to celebrate the lives of Max and Ben. Check out a few photos below and a massive thanks goes out to all that have donated to United Through Sport.

If you have an interesting way that you have fundraised for us then get in touch as we want to hear about it.

Tough Mudders Support United Through Sport

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Last weekend saw a group of super hard United Through Sport supporters take part in Tough Mudder… a challenge involving a run through a 12 mile SAS designed course battling through mud, fire, ice-water and 10,000 volts of electricity.

The event was a great way to build camaraderie and encourage team involvement, an objective central to the vision of United Through Sport. It took approx 3hrs to do the event with a well earned pint of Strongbow waiting for the team at the finish line.

A massive thanks goes out to the Caravan and Motorhome company Bailey of Bristol (follow them on Twitter @baileyofbristol) for lending the team a state-of-the-art motorhome. This provided much needed comfort after a tough day out on the battle field!

Thanks also to the 9 Tough Mudders who raised money for our charity work in Africa and South America, helping us bring more important messages and support to thousands of kids.

If you would like to run Tough Mudder yourself and even better raise money for our work then check out the website here: www.ToughMudder.co.uk

UTS take on the BUPA London 10km Challenge

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A massive thanks goes out to the team that took part in the Bupa London 10km run on 30th May. Over £2500 was raised for our work overseas.

The run was great fun as everyone ran together and took in the atmosphere and iconic London scene, including Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral and Nelson’s Column. Buckingham Palace acted as the backdrop to the start and finish. We even had our very own Lion Man running with us for our Bhubesi Rugby and Sport project in 10 African countries next year.

If you get a place in a sporting event, like the London Marthon or the London to Brighton cycle challenge then why not consider raising money for United Through Sport at the same time and join our ever growing sporting community!

Bring on next year and an even bigger crowd of United Through Sport supporters.

Law Firm Give £300 Raffle Prize

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On 2nd July 2009, law firm RadcliffesLeBrasseur held their annual summer event for staff. As part of the event, a raffle was held in aid of charity. A fantastic sum of over £300 was raised in aid of United Through Sport.

100% of the funds raised are to be dedicated to the School of Sporting Excellence in South Africa. Participants in the raffle were given details on what United Through Sport stand for and how the project is making a huge difference to kids in some of the poorest areas of Port Elizabeth.

United Through Sport would like to thank all at RadcliffesLeBrasseur for their warm generosity this summer!

Squash Marathon Raises £400

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On 30th May, Matt Burnett, a squash coach from Berkshire, played squash and racketball for 10 straight hours to raise funds for United Through Sport!

The marathon rally was a great event and raised a smashing sum of over £400 for the charity.

100% of the funds will be dedicated to the 2009 campaign to raise £40,000 for the School of Sporting Excellence in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Many thanks go to Matt and all those who sponsored his incredible effort!