Premier League 4 Sport

Manchester health Academy are involved in a scheme which encourages youngsters to take up four Olympic Sports before the Games come to London in 2012.

In a groundbreaking £3.8 million partnership with the British Government, the ‘Premier League 4 Sport’ scheme sees all 20 clubs in the Barclays Premier League link up with community sports clubs to help youngsters take up badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball.

And four Manchester United favourites helped to get the message across. Stars Wes Brown, Michael Carrick, John O’Shea and Danny Wellbeck, turned out for the launch at the Manchester Health Academy and led by example, trying their hand at all four sports.

The quartet got right into the spirit of the event by taking on excited local youngsters at various sports. They all thoroughly enjoyed playing table tennis, volleyball and badminton with Olympic silver medallist Gail Emms - but they were more wary about the judo.

However, European Judo Championship silver medallist, Sarah Clarke, promised to go easy on them to avoid any risk of injury. Irish international defender O’Shea laughed “It was much harder than football training but good fun. I had never done judo before and I realised I am not quite as talented at that as I am at football. It was quite difficult but I enjoyed is and hopefully it will encourage others to have a go. It is very important for youngsters to learn new skills and try out new sports. Who knows? They could have a real talent for it. A few years ago cycling might have been considered a minority sport but now it has a high profile and hopefully the same will happen for these sport. If kids get involved now and find they excel then in a few years time they could go far.”

England midfielder Carrick said “Schemes like this are massively important - and not just because of the Olympics. I really like coming to events like this and seeing kids enjoying themselves and showing such enthusiasm. Hopefully, it will have a knock-on effect for our Olympic teams in the future. I watch a lot of sport and like most people; I am always glued to the Games. It will be fantastic to have them here on our door step and I will try to get to as many events as I can.”

Working with the grassroots sport delivery bodies, the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, the Premier League clubs’ aim is to get 25,000 young people, aged between 11 and 16, to join local sports clubs in the four Olympic sports during the two and a half year scheme.

Each Barclays Premier League club is linking to four community sport clubs in their local area which will work in partnership with the football club. The 80 community clubs will be linked to four secondary schools in the area, creating a total of 320 satellite clubs across the country.

Zeki Istanbul is the Manchester United project co-ordinator who will work with the clubs and Manchester Health Academy to deliver the programme in order to maximise opportunities for young people. Zeki said “The scheme is part of the 2012 legacy to get more youngsters involved in sport. We will be setting up four local hub clubs, including one here at the Manchester Health Academy, to promote the four sports. They are all sports which can be enjoyed at a local sports centre without the need for a great deal of specialised equipment or experience. The fact that Manchester United’s name is attached will immediately make it more attractive and capture the imagination of the kids”.

The scheme is already attracting huge support and excitement locally after being set up by the Manchester United Foundation. Chief Executive, John Shiels, said “The advent of the Premier League 4 Sport project is fantastic news for our region. We have seen firsthand what investment and media attention can do for sports like cycling. Taking part in sport when you’re younger can have many benefits both mentally and physically, and these sports are relatively cheap to get into and ideally suited to mass participation. Using football as a way of connecting with young people has proved successful across many of our projects: hopefully we at Manchester United Foundation can encourage children who know Manchester United, but perhaps don’t want to play football, into playing sport. It is not just about the fitness and health aspects though. These sports teach fantastic life skills such as discipline and focus. In a team sport you can occasionally get away with focus because you have others to bail you out but that is not the case in individual sports. If you lose focus in judo, you will be flat on your back and it is game over. It teaches calm, composure and concentration and helps to develop young people to become better citizens for tomorrow.”

European Judo Championship silver medallist Sarah Clarke said “This link with the Premier League is a massive boost for the sport. When youngsters see these household names having a go and enjoying it then they are more likely to try it for themselves. All the players got stuck in and had fun. These sports are accessible to all and will bring quiet kids out of their shell and add discipline and self control to the more rowdy ones. Anything which gets kids involved in playing sport has to be a good thing.”

Olympic badminton silver medallist Gail Emms added “It is a great scheme because without the football club’s name, it would just be an ordinary badminton club. It can be hard to get youngsters involved but as soon as Manchester United or another Premier League club put their name to it then it becomes much more appealing.”

The Manchester Health Academy badminton sessions, every Saturday 3.30-5pm and table tennis every Monday 6-7pm. Come along and give it a go!