BBC Power of Sport Award winners announced

The winners of the 2009 BBC Power of Sport Awards, supported by Sport England, have been announced.

The awards recognise inspiring projects, and the people behind them, that have used the power of sport to make a real difference in their community and change people’s lives for the better.

Sport England is supporting the BBC Power of Sport Awards because they celebrate sustainable projects that have increased the number of people taking part as well as tackling some of the big challenges facing grassroots sport.

The winners are:

The Kent Community Programme

BBC region: South East

The Kent Community Programme has brought new sporting opportunities to young people living in disadvantaged communities in Folkestone. It is delivered by Kent Safe Schools (an organisation which is part of Kent County Council). It has been using sport to improve the lives of 16-19 year olds by giving them the practical and life skills needed to help them get a better education or find a job.

Power Chair Football

BBC region: South

The Power Chair Football project, run by Fareham Borough Council, provides specially-designed attachments for the wheelchairs so that the youngsters who use them can play football in a fun and safe environment. The attachments allow participants to guide the giant footballs around the pitch, intercept the ball and score goals. The sporting opportunities on offer through the project have included after-school coaching sessions and holiday programmes with qualified coaches.

Children's Able and Disabled Sport (CADS)

BBC region: North West

The Children's Able and Disabled Sport project provides sport and physical activity sessions for both able and disabled children in an environment designed to include everyone equally. Last year, 1,300 youngsters from Manchester and Cheshire took part in the sessions. CADS has 35 different sports on offer including swimming, squash, football, cycling, cricket, rugby and gymnastics. Now the project organisers are planning to take their programme to other areas in the North West.

Running Sisters

BBC region: East

Running Sisters, based in Southend-on-Sea, provides six-week progressive running courses for women beginners. The courses are open to 16+ year olds and are led by qualified female coaches. Thanks to Running Sisters, more than 230 women have got in running this year. The project aims to build up participants’ confidence and fitness on a week by week basis, until they can continually-run for 20 minutes at their own pace, by the end of the six weeks. It gives women in Southend the opportunity to run with others in a fun and safe environment, especially those that have never run before or who have not done so for a number of years.

Yorkshire Yoga

BBC region: Yorkshire

Yorkshire Yoga, based in Knaresborough, provides free or low cost classes for people of all ages and abilities including antenatal classes for pregnant mothers, ‘Golden Years Yoga’ for the over 65’s and ‘Able and Enabled’ classes catering for people with physical and learning disabilities. They also offer classes for those who are unemployed or work fewer than 17 hours a week - such as mums or carers. In the last year, participation amongst people with disabilities has increased by 85%. 

North Lambeth and North Southwark Sport Action Zone

BBC region: London

The North Lambeth and North Southwark Sport Action Zone (SAZ) was originally set up as part of the nationwide Sport Action Zone initiative, with the ultimate aim of increasing sports participation in their deprived communities.  Through sport and physical activity, the project has addressed other problems including multiple deprivation, poor public health, low levels of educational achievement and a lack of social cohesion.

Riverside Youth

BBC region: West

The Riverside Youth Project is an inner city, multi-racial project which uses sport as a platform to engage young, disadvantaged people and young offenders who have been excluded from mainstream education. Each month the Bristol-based project provides sporting opportunities, including boxing, football, street cricket and windsurfing to 1,400 disadvantaged young people in a fun and safe environment.

Nottingham Unity Football and Education Programme

BBC region: East Midlands

The Nottingham Unity Football and Education Progamme was set up to put an end to gang rivalry following the fatal shooting of an innocent 14 year old girl in 2004. The programme uses football to engage with young people from the three rival gang areas in Nottingham. Players wear black trousers and a black shirt as a mark of respect to people who have been killed in gang violence.

Bend it like Birmingham

BBC region: West Midlands

The Bend it like Birmingham project was set up to help integrate different communities in East Birmingham and to break down tensions between the older, low-income, white communities in the outer parts of the city and the younger, low-income, black and ethnic minority communities in inner parts of the area. It uses sport to bring people together and offer opportunities to learn new skills. 

Sport Universities North East England (SUNEE)

BBC region: North East and Cumbria

SUNEE has brought sport to over 3500 disadvantaged people in the North East. They are improving the lives of homeless people, vulnerable women, looked after children and those suffering from drug and alcohol addictions by offering a wide range of sports sessions and using university students as coaches and volunteers. All of their sessions are targeted at people on low incomes and they have had a huge impact on on the lives of the participants.

Fence Cornwall

BBC region: South West

Fence Cornwall has brought new sporting opportunities to over 6000 young people in the South West by giving them the opportunity to try a new, non-mainstream sport, delivering hundreds of hours of free coaching and taster sessions and setting up nearly 20 after-school clubs. Thanks to the project, thousands of children have experienced the fun of fencing and plans are already underway to develop Cornwall’s first disabled fencing club.

You can learn more about these fantastic projects by reading their full case studies. Click on the titles above to find out more.