Today, second year Sport and Exercise Science students are travelling to Port Elizabeth, South Africa to volunteer with the charity ‘United Through Sport’ who look to educate and inspire children within the township areas. The students will be coaching football, rugby, hockey and netball in local primary schools.

The trip is the result of months of planning where the students have organised a range of fundraising activities. These include the annual 24 hour football match, bag packs at Morrisons in Bridgwater, cake sales and a raffle. Fundraising is essential as these funds not only purchase additional equipment and kit, but also enable the students to run a fantastic sport tournament for around 250 local school children in the township. All of the children and accompanying staff members will also have meals provided on the day.

Alongside sport coaching, students will also be teaching Maths, English and Science, and assisting in the delivery of after school workshops. These workshops give the local children the opportunity to further their education and also to develop essential life skills. The students are extremely excited to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and are looking forward to the experiences that they will share together.

Alex Leach, Course Leader for Sport and Exercise Science said,

“I would like to thank the local businesses and community who have provided excellent support and enabled us to raise the funds to support the coaching sessions and tournament. A big thank you to Morrisons Bridgwater for their continued support of the trip. Also we would like to thank all of the companies who supported the sponsorship raffle, with the winners being local business ‘See-View Window Cleaning Service’.”

Look out for a review of the trip in a couple of weeks and in the meantime, find out more about the Level 3 Sport and Exercise Science course here.