Community Programme …
Throughout our history we have always demonstrated a strong commitment to building community links through our contacts with a large number of educational establishments. We understand that the key to the successful achievement of our aims depends mainly upon our involvement with local communities, and during the last six years, we have worked with over a hundred Primary and Secondary Schools in the Greater London area.
Last year London United rolled out its new community initiative, Hope thru Hoops, which is a programme aimed at helping young offenders and those at risk of offending to develop positive life skills through engaging with sport in a bid to prevent their re-offending. The programme is run in conjunction with Feltham Young Offenders Institution and local Youth Offending Teams, and is built around the delivery of a variety of vocational course and training to groups of youngsters who might otherwise have experienced difficulty in achieving such qualifications.
In recent times, London United delivered the Dunk the Junk programme in conjunction with the London Borough of Ealing which was a programme which provided supervised physical activity, team play in basketball, football, swimming and outdoor pursuits as well as lectures on sports science and enabled both children and young people to make healthy lifestyle choices. The project aimed to tackle various issues from healthy eating, through drug abuse and sexual health, to the benefits of sport and teamwork, along with fair play and rules, and was delivered at a local leisure centre in the most deprived ward of Ealing. Through participation in this programme, many young people were given a second chance to prove themselves, and to turn their lives around in a positive way.
THE CURRENT PROGRAMME …
At the present time the grass roots work of London United is embedded within the London Boroughs of Richmond, Kingston, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Ealing and Wandsworth, as well as the adjoining District of Spelthorne in Surrey, where we provide basketball coaching in several Primary and Secondary Schools. We successfully run a number of Basketball After School Clubs and also provide specialist basketball coaching during curriculum hours. Our Club provides fully qualified and CRB checked coaches and prides itself on their punctuality, professionalism, knowledge and dedication. We are mainly able to provide high quality basketball coaching, but we can provide football or health and fitness coaching as well.
In addition to this London United is currently running its Hope thru Hoops Initiative delivering basketball coaching courses leading to accreditation as Level 1 Basketball Coaches to young offenders in Feltham Young Offenders Institution.
THE FUTURE …
London United have a vision to:
- Expand their Schools Programme into as many Primary and Secondary Schools in West London and Surrey as possible in order to encourage children to take up and follow the sport of basketball
- Provide a structured Junior Programme for children as young as Under 10 through to the Youth Programme delivered by the Academies and beyond, in order to attract young people from the Community Programme into the Club where they can follow a path of personal development to ensure that they achieve to their full potential.
- To extend their community work beyond schools, through the Hope thru Hoops Initiative, into local communities where an involvement in sport can make a difference in the lives of young people; where the skills of commitment, self-discipline and dedication to hard work can be learnt through the pleasure and enjoyment of a game of basketball.