At The Harlequins Foundation, we recognise that many young people will have been particularly affected by the impact of COVID-19.
The abrupt school closures earlier in the year have meant that many will have missed the chance to say goodbye to school friends and their teachers before moving up into secondary school.
Whilst others, who will have been preparing for their summer exams, will have to settle for predicted grades and the uncertainty as to how that may affect their progression in later life.
All young people and their families have had to adapt very quickly to a new way of learning at home, and whilst some have excelled we recognise that for some of the most vulnerable young people, this has been a particularly difficult experience.
Furthermore, the widespread uncertainty surrounding a return to school as we knew it has meant that, even for those coping well during lockdown, this has been a stressful and highly emotional time compounded by the fact that many typical ‘outlets’ for stress such as sports clubs and gyms have been closed.
As a result, today we are partnering with local schools to launch our ‘Summer Sports Week’, supporting hundreds of local young people to stay active and socially connected during the summer holidays with a range of free sports and activity sessions at their school.
Combining our newly developed Skills Builder for Sports Toolkit and our own flagship resilience programme, ‘METTLE’ , we will be supporting young people by using sport as a tool to develop essential skills such as ‘Staying Positive’ and ‘Aiming High’, you can find out more about the Skills Builder Framework HERE.
Each young person will have the opportunity to attend up to five 70-minute sports and activity sessions over the course of a week, where they could choose from one of the following activities each day; Fitness Fun (inspired by our very own Wellbeing Officer, Hollie, whose range of home workout you can access HERE, Athletics sessions for anyone missing out on their Olympic Games fix this year, and a range of Racket Sports for those missing Wimbledon and the Cricket!
Throughout the week, our coaches will work with small groups of young people to explore possible coping techniques and resilience skills that may prove useful in the classroom and on the sports pitch too.
If your school would be interested in taking part in a Summer Sport Week with The Harlequins Foundation, please contact our Inclusion Manager, Matthew Williams, at matthew.williams@nullquins.co.uk