Stronger Communities Through Sport

S-Factor Academy is a dynamic, inclusive athletics club catering to the Kent and South East London regions. We offer our members elite coaching by top coaches, including some former international GB and Olympic winning athletes in a fun and educational environment. Founded in 2010 by top Commonwealth and Junior Champion, and former Team GB athlete, Lisa Miller, S-Factor Academy’s ethos is to use sport as a tool to engage young people and channel their energy into building and enhancing their life skills.

But we are more than just an ‘athletics club’, we believe that the skills gained in sport such as discipline, focus, commitment and respect are wide ranging and are transferable in managing and living a better quality of life. We have fostered excellent working relationships with schools, sports clubs, local authorities and national governing bodies. In partnership with these bodies, we also offer wider opportunities for our members such as career advice, workshops and work experience. The club's Disability team works with disadvantaged and disabled (physical/learning or sensory) young people to help them achieve their full potential in sports; improve well-being and overall quality of life.

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Restorative Justice for All (RJ4All) is a non-profit Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with a mission to advance human rights and community cohesion at the local, national and international levels. We redistribute power in a more equal way by delivering social justice projects, educational programmes and high-quality volunteering opportunities to the most marginalised groups of society. We focus on building better and more effective social justice systems by working locally, nationally and internationally through the redistribution of power.

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JoyRiders London empowers women by introducing them to the joys of cycling, and supporting them to overcome social, cultural and economic barriers to cycling. We offer weekly women’s rides, including entry-level rides, with bikes provided by the local council. We bring together women from diverse backgrounds through cycling to help them build new social connections across different communities.

Our rides also enable women to take time out for themselves, from servicing the needs of their families. We cycle to green open spaces such as the Walthamstow Wetlands, the Olympic Park and the beautiful Lea Valley. We also offer a progression pathway for our participants to train as Ride Leaders, and some have also gone on to train as Cycling Instructors.

All from BAME/Muslim backgrounds, they are fantastic ambassadors and role models, recruiting other women from within local communities to have cycle training, join our led rides, or both. JoyRiders London also delivers monthly family rides where dads and kids can join in the fun and cycle in the safety of a group with trained Ride Leaders and marshals.

In the last 12 months, JoyRiders delivered 44 led rides, with 417 participants and a total of 223 unique participants.

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We are the London Cruisers, a lesbian, bi and non binary basketball club with a 20-year history based in east London. Our objective is to create and activate a community around basketball. We currently have 25 active members from 20 different countries representing the diversity of London.

We take part in both domestic and international tournaments every year. In 2019, we have played tournaments in Dusseldorf, Paris and London with the fourth and final tournament scheduled in Barcelona in September. We were enrolled in 3 London leagues in 2019: We Love basketball, the Tower Hamlets Trojans women's basketball league and the Metropolitan league.

We train twice a week with our coach, with one training focusing on preparing for the games with the 15 players enrolled in the Metropolitan league.

Although our passion for basketball brings us together, we also organise social events that keep us connected beyond the sport, such as taking part altogether in the London Pride parade.

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Insight is a Young People's Service working with Young People under 25 and families in the borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster. We provide a health and wellbeing service inclusive of drug and alcohol interventions, smoking cessation, education support, outreach support, housing advice, access to gyms, sexual health advice and much more.

We run a Hot Café session on a Wednesday evening between 5pm and 7.30pm for young people under the age of 16. First we play football on the pitch with a coach from London Sports Trust, then we head over to Kensal resource centre for hot food and open conversations and other activities. We run workshops and sessions in schools and colleges educating young people on drugs and alcohol and smoking.

We are based in Ladbroke grove (51 Golborne Road, W10 5NR). We have a drop-in where young people are able to walk into and get confidential support and advice from one of our health and wellbeing workers, as well as use the telephone and computer.

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Aim2gain sports is a community based sports organisation in east London. Aim2gain sports has been running in the community for the past ten years. Delivering a variety of community football and multi sports sessions mid week and on the weekends, all inclusive for any children to join in and get involved. The organisation also runs football teams feeding off our football community sessions to help children take their sporting ability to the next level.

The organisation over the past two years has run very successful multi sports camps in all of the school holidays making contact with over 150 children to keep them active and enjoying sports during their time off from school. On top of this Aim2gain sports offer after school sports and mentoring clubs. These clubs aid children who may not have access to computers, or help from parents/guardians at home offering vital supports with school work and also then a variety of sports to take part in. Aim2gain sports connects with hundreds of children every week to help them excel and better themselves through sport.

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Holborn Gymnastics Club is a community club that delivers 15 sessions of gymnastics every week to approximately 150 children. The club also delivers gymnastics in local primary and secondary schools. The club caters for local children and young people between the ages of 4-16 years.

The club's training venue is situated at Bedford House Community Centre in Holborn, Central London. The gymnasts that attend the club come from a variety of backgrounds with one special purpose uniting them- a passion for grassroots gymnastics!

The club's ethos focuses on building stronger communities through sport and providing a welcoming, friendly and supportive environment for children to learn gymnastics.

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Whether it’s the buzz of the Women’s World Cup, or the desire to level the playing field, women's football has grown in recent years, and so has grassroots football.

Actonians LFC is helping pave the way from grassroots to professional football for women. Based in West London the club was established in 2003 with two teams. We have now expanded to three senior teams in competitive leagues.

Additionally, we have seven girls teams and we run SSE Wildcats Centre sessions for girls aged between 5-8 years old.

A diverse club, our players come from all over London and the world! But it’s not just the players that make Actonians, our managers and coaches volunteer their services for free and have guided us to many a victory.

Actonians is a club that goes far beyond the pitch, our ethos is to empower women to invest in their fitness through football.

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Aim High Dance Academy provides an environment where learning both dance and life values go hand in hand and where each participant can become confident in his/her efforts and successes.

We have branches in London in Croydon, Lambeth, Lewisham and Henre Hill. The Academy offers services such as PPA cover, Breakfast clubs, After school clubs, Holiday clubs, theatre productions, one-on-one sessions, group sessions, parties and much more.

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The DS Football Academy is a local community initiative designed to engage meaningfully with disadvantaged youths through a variety of peer group football coaching courses and activities.

Our Boyz 2 men programme uses sessions which are one hour of physical activity and 30 minutes of group discussion focusing on health, well-being, personal development and prevention.

Discussion topics:

Knife Crime - prevention/intervention.

Mental Health - getting conversations going to help reduce stigma and normalise, importance of prevention and early sign posting for young people to helpful services.

Drugs and Alcohol - the potential harmful effects and how to recognise addiction and how to help and sign post to relevant organisation.

See our ConnectSport directory page.

SkyWay works with some of the most vulnerable young people in our society. We offer practical and emotional support through our core projects.

Our services are available to young people aged between 8 – 25 years old. We are community focused and deliver a wide range of activities and programmes in youth clubs, local sports centres, parks, housing estates and on the streets. All these services are FREE at the point of access.

SkyWay Futures
We focus on the transitional stages young people go through as they move from childhood to young adulthood. We support them to develop the skills, confidence and resilience to address the challenges many of them face, helping them to form a positive sense of identity and increasing aspiration.

SkyWay Futures is split into three programmes:

1) Transitions
For young people aged 8 – 14 years old, focusing on developing their skills, confidence and resilience, providing a safe environment, diverting them away from criminal and anti-social behaviour, supporting positive engagement with the community and increasing their expectations about what they can achieve.

Young people taking part in our summer bike project.

2) Active
For young people aged 15+ providing targeted support to develop resilience and confidence, widen their choices for their futures and encourage independence, responsibility and self-determination.

3) Fun
Term-time and holiday sessions which engage young people in fun activities and build positive relationships between young people and the wider community.

We spent a weekend away at the Paccar Scout Camp on our 2015 residential trip.

Employment and Enterprise
We support young people to develop and utilise their skills, helping them to gain qualifications, experience and employment through job clubs and one to one to support and advice. We also give them the opportunity, advice and support to create their own business.

Alternative Education
We teach and facilitate the education of young people at risk of low attendance or social exclusion. We deliver a comprehensive range of vocational learning including: enterprise, mechanics, beauty, literacy and numeracy to support the positive progression of the young people.

SkyWay Ambassadors
SkyWay Ambassadors is our highly commended peer development programme. The Ambassadors are trained and gain qualifications to support the delivery of activities and workshops for younger children who see them as positive role models they want to emulate. SkyWay Ambassadors volunteer and work in the local community, delivering activities in community settings and schools, and some continue training to become the next cohort of youth workers.

SkyWay Ambassadors specialise in providing support in:
Mental health awareness
Sexual health
Money management
Healthy eating and budgeting
Sports coaching
Leadership and mentoring
Life skills

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RJ4All is a non-profit NGO based in SE16 London with a mission to advance community and social cohesion at the local, national and international levels. Through our programmes, we redistribute power within society using the values and practices of restorative justice. To this end, we partner with like minded organisations and individuals to deliver activities that advance our mission including sports and art, inter-cultural dialogue and workshops.

We increase cultural awareness especially amongst children and young people, breaking in this way the barriers that lead to division and community tensions. We provide training and courses (face-to-face and online) that are accredited with CPD status. We also have a publishing arm specialising in books and Journals in social sciences and social justice.

We are governed by a Trustee Board and our Founder is also our Director (voluntary role). We are supported by 12 part-time interns and over 40 volunteers monthly. For the submitted project, we partnered with Tideway Sailability is a unique sailing charity in SE16 focused on providing access to a sports activity in which children and young people with disabilities participate with, and on equal terms to, those without a disability.

Tideway strives to create a more cohesive and integrated local area by enabling those with and without a disability to come into closer contact in a healthy, outdoor and sporting environment.

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Boxing Futures registered with the Charities Commission in June 2015. We are a Sport for Change and Development organisation and since becoming operationally live, have delivered non-contact Boxercise Programmes and sessions to over 2000 people.

We aim to make an immediate impact on the lives of young people and the wider community. Working predominantly with 16-25-year olds, however both older and younger age groups are engaged. Our goal is to improve not only physical health but mental health and wellbeing through sport, whilst building empowering relationships and developing core soft skills.

Through our programmes we aim to use service user’s improved well-being, new-found motivation, confidence and core skills as a springboard into re-engagement with education, volunteering, employment and importantly their wider community.

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The LPFF manages seven playing fields across the capital where 200,000 people a year play football, rugby, cricket and softball improving their physical and mental wellbeing. We believe that playing fields are where sport begins and for the gifted few they are where careers begin.

Founded in 1890 our vision is to create happier, healthier, more cohesive communities. Recent research commissioned by the Foundation shows that the benefits derived from playing sport and being physically active extend well beyond the pitch. For just one of our grounds in Walthamstow the report found that the minimum saving to the public purse was £4.8million over a 12-month period.

As well as increasing sports participation through the provision of facilities for schools and clubs, we extend our reach to disadvantaged groups via a series of life changing projects. For example, the award-winning project Coping Through Football works with the NHS to provide a service with a difference in helping hundreds of people with long term mental health issues to get their lives back on track. Other projects target youngsters at risk of ceasing sporting participation or those for whom opportunities are few and far between. We have also run projects focussed on social inclusion and preventing youngsters from falling prey to the lure of gang activity. These projects aim not just to make an immediate impact but also to shape and inform government and social health policy.

Furthermore, the Foundation also has a strategic protection role which entails compiling the Fields at Risk Register and acting as the first port of call for advice on saving endangered sports pitches across London. We have also written a Charter for Playing Fields in London which provides 12 indisputable calls to action that we hope key stakeholders will unite behind and implement to safeguard the future of London's playing fields.

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Richmond Rugby Community Department have partnered with The Atlas Foundation to help raise money for community projects being run by the Club in and around the Richmond Area. The Atlas foundation was formed by ex-England Captain and RFU President Jason Leonard, who lives locally to the Club.

The partnership’s aim is to raise funds for schools rugby delivery at local state schools who have little or no resources for outside coaching support. The Community team are looking to target schools who traditionally have not played rugby and have pupil intake from diverse cultural backgrounds.

In addition to the school projects we are also looking to fund a “Rugby changes lives” programme being run at Her Majesties Prison Feltham, ‘A’ wing. The younger inmates aged between 15 and 18 years of age get an opportunity to take part in a rugby training session once a week for 2 hours. The long term aim of the programme is to offer pathways for these young men on release from prison, with the opportunity to continue to play rugby in their local area. We strongly believe that physical activity in a competitive environment linked with Rugby’s values can offer help to these young men an alternative to a life of crime.

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Bobby Kasanga founded Hackney Wick Football Club in 2015; Hackney’s first ever semi-professional football club in nearly a century. We are not you regular football club as our ethos is based on community engagement and uniting the local diverse groups as well as battling peer pressure and tackling gang influences.

We engage 160 youths and 70 adults through our training, fitness and football matches (16 youth teams plus sessions for children with additional needs as well as 2 adult teams). We do this by offering educational workshops, sporting opportunities, mentoring and access to work routes which would actively engage with those already involved in gangs, those on the brink of gang life and those who might not be aware of the threats out there (as a safeguarding tool).

We are a community club whose members and players volunteer our services for free to the Hackney community. Be it providing free football coaching or helping out at various events our members come along and support. We will offer training, employment and community projects which promote health and well-being as well as community safety.

We will work with our partners and network to identify at risk individuals and groups who would benefit from our engagement. Referrals can be made by parents, schools, police, local authorities, probation services and other organisations in a collaborative effort to save lives.

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WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT GETTING THOUSANDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE OUT OF GANGS EACH YEAR

BoxUpCrime is a social youth organisation operating out of the London borough of Barking and Dagenham. We work with young people who are at risk of having their lives ruined by crime and motivate them to rebuild and recapture their dreams and aspirations.

We believe that every young person is entitled to a bright future, inspired by their hopes and dreams, regardless of their background. We deliver our tailored sessions to schools, pupil referral units and community centres across London. In our weekly sessions, we offer a foundation of discipline through boxing training, educational programmes and mentoring. We provide young people with job opportunities and apprenticeships as a stepping stone to their future.

Vision
An international youth-led community, rebuilding misguided dreams by harnessing the talents of young people.

Mission
Providing the opportunity and resources to help all young people discover a true sense of identity as well as guiding them to develop self-motivation strategies. Once equipped with this, it will allow them to go on to self-fulfilment, making a successful life accessible, and ultimately decreasing and preventing the chance of them becoming a victim of senseless murders and going to prison.

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Metro Blind Sport is a registered charity creating fun, sporting opportunities for individuals with a visual impairment. We offer opportunities to get involved in a wide variety of sports, primarily located within Greater London.

In addition to our core sports, which include Archery, Athletics, Bowls, Cricket, Football, Tennis and Swimming, we play a vital role in the provision of information about wider sporting and social opportunities to our members, our website visitors, Twitter followers and newsletter subscribers , so that we can share to extended blind and partially sighted community.

Metro Blind Sport supports all ages and abilities. For most members, the joy of simply being able to participate in sport is life changing. Sport delivers many social, physical and mental benefits helping participants lead a more fulfilling, healthy and happy life, both on and off the field of play.

Go to our ConnectSport page.

Kekoa believe football should be played without fear and with a confidence that makes playing the beautiful game as enjoyable as possible. Enjoyment is a key factor at Kekoa, as football should be played with a smile and a freedom which brings out the best in players, no matter their ability. Encouraging creativity, skill and inventiveness is our aim.

Confidence is one of, if not the most important thing in football. The difference between a confident and a non-confident player is always very evident, even the most talented football players in the world, look a shadow of themselves when they are lacking in confidence.

The environment we create welcomes mistakes and recognises that mistakes are a part of the game, we do not focus on what a player might be doing wrong, but what they might do different. If a player thinks that they will get into trouble or get shouted at for making a mistake he/she will automatically be playing with fear and ultimately play within themselves.

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Disability Sports Coach provides award-winning sport and physical activity opportunities for disabled people in London. Most notably, Disability Sports Coach deliver 13 Community Clubs, as well as activities for organisations and inclusive sport training workshops.

Since 2005, DSC have delivered sport and physical activity to over 60,000 disabled people, trained over 5000 people through inclusive workshops and supported over 300 organisations to make their sessions inclusive.

Community Clubs

Disability Sport Coach's award-winning Community Clubs are specialist, weekly sports activities for all disabled people. The purpose of the Community Club network is to ensure disabled people are more active, more often, whilst being integrated in their local community with the opportunity to develop independency and social skills.

Community Clubs aims and objectives are:

- Improve disabled people’s physical, mental and social wellbeing by attending weekly sessions, competitions and annual events.
- Provide support to ensure members are able to access other opportunities to be more integrated in their local community.
- Support and train disabled people and their network to become volunteers and coaches, creating a more representative workforce.

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MMARAP teaches MMA/Self Defence and education for the non-disabled, Deaf/Blind and disabled. We're based in Islington along with teaching all across the London boroughs.

MMARAP helps to:

1. Mobilise disabled and non-disabled people to become leaders and have control – in their own lives and society.

2. Provide advice to achieve independent living.

3. Break the association between disability and inactivity.

4. Put disability, equality and human rights into practice across society.

Wheely Tots is a registered children’s charity that believes ALL children should be healthy, confident and resilient. We run family friendly cycling activities in Haringey and Hackney. We provide access to cycling equipment and facilities via inclusive and friendly events and sessions.

We specialise in parent and toddler balance bike sessions in local parks. We offer advice and support to families to get them cycling together: we provide bike servicing, cycle training, workshops and use of our cargo bikes. We have a Kit Library where people can try out and borrow bikes and cycling equipment.

We bring together the diverse community in North London through shared experiences and enjoyment of outdoor spaces.

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Highbury Table Tennis Club Highbury Table Tennis Club is for all abilities, young and old, male and female and people with additional support needs. The club has various venues offering wide range of table tennis activities for Juniors, Female Players, Drop in sessions, 16 league teams, British leagues and much more.

Just a 10-15 minutes walk from Highbury & Islington tube, Highbury Grove School, N5 2EQ, We have experienced coaches, run fun training sessions and enter teams in the Central Table Tennis League. The club is suitable for beginner, intermediate and advanced players. The club is open most Tuesday, Thursday and Friday evenings throughout the year. 

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At The Bike Project, we take second-hand bikes, fix them up and donate them to refugees and asylum-seekers. London is bursting with opportunities – but it's also expensive. Especially when you're a refugee trying to navigate the complex asylum process on just £36 a week.

At The Bike Project, we believe that no one should have to choose between eating a square meal and catching the bus. That's why we do bikes. In addition to donating bikes, we run Pedal Power, all-female cycling lessons for refugee women, and our Bike Buddies scheme that matches our refugee cyclists with a buddy in their local area to help them build confidence using their bike.

We rely on donated bikes to do our work, and a number of them are refurbished and sold in our online shop to raise much-needed funds for our work - in this film Louis Theroux buys a bike from us, and donates his old one.

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Saracens Sport Foundation is the charitable arm of Saracens Rugby Club. Working across Hertfordshire and North London, our vision is to inspire our community through the values of sport, physical activity and social opportunities as a catalyst for positive change, enabling the fulfilment of potential.

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Carney’s Community aims to reduce offending, re-offending and anti-social behaviour, whilst improving social mobility and community cohesion. We achieve this by engaging a range of participants, in positive and constructive activities.

Specifically we offer free boxing fitness and Yoga (with Live Karma Yoga) sessions, alongside our core long term, intensive and unconditional one to one support with the aim of reducing offending, improving physical and emotional health and bridging the social divide, which is common in today’s society.

Our participants are from a variety of backgrounds, with a focus on the disadvantaged and excluded. We believe that by empowering young people through mentoring, participation, focusing on their strengths and learning from each other, we can improve not only their opportunities, but also those of their local communities.

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Our organisation is part of a charity called Community Resources based in Dagenham, that supports volunteers in the community working in various different projects, such as open doors which provides english classes, supports teen mums and a community hub drop in. Also there is a wonderful coffee shop run by volunteers. The project which I run is called Skates Dagenham and it is a roller skating club for teenage girl's between the ages of 13-19. It is funded by London Sport.

Barking and Dagenham has the highest rate of teen pregnancies. Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows 27 girls got pregnant for every 1,000 below the age of 18 in 2016 – a decrease of just over 10 per cent compared to 2015’s figures.

One of the issues that has been raised was that there isn't enough youth clubs/activities that are affordable for teenagers to take part in. In fact I couldn't find any especially for girls that was fun. This bothered me and I felt that it wasn't fair that not all teenagers could participate or be a part of a club because of certain barriers, such as costs, travel and also lack of motivation feeling incapable of learning or trying something new. This is when the idea of skates dagenham came about. I had always roller skated and ice skated during my youth and loved it. Why couldn't there be a roller skating club that was accessible and affordable for local teens.

I found out through the charity Community Resources that I could get funding which we did from London Sport. We started running our sessions on the 7th of July 2018. We run our sessions on Sundays from 5:30-6:30 at Kingsley Hall, we charge a £1 a session, provide rollerskates and wrist guards. Its a bit like a roller disco where we skate to music learn new skills and have lots of fun.

We've had over 20 girl's that have participated in our sessions and have a core group of about 10 that come each week. I'm a qualified rollerskating coach and have 2 volunteers that help me run the sessions.

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Greenhouse Sports is a London-based charity committed to the belief every child deserves a fair chance to succeed. We are passionate about the power of sport to change young lives. Greenhouse Sports uses inspirational sports coaching and mentoring to engage young people from disadvantaged areas to help improve their life chances.

We partner with schools to provide opportunities for young people who may be disengaged and vulnerable to develop the social, thinking, emotional and physical skills that help them thrive. Greenhouse Sports coaches work full-time in secondary schools and sixth form colleges, special educational needs (SEN) schools and in our performance sports clubs, delivering over 50 programmes across 16 London boroughs.

This year we will work with nearly 8000 young people in those schools and at our first community sports centre, the Greenhouse Centre - in one of the most deprived wards of Westminster. We focus our resources on young people who are disengaged, vulnerable or facing disadvantage. We only work in schools where at least two-thirds (67%) of pupils live in areas of high deprivation according to IDACI, or which are specifically for young people with special educational needs.

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Play Place delivers a whole range of youth services across, Croydon, Kent and south London. In particular we have our own garage in Croydon which young people can come to every Wednesday evening 4-6pm to learn to fix our off road motorbikes and learn to ride on our training track.

Young people then have the chance to use their new riding skills on our private off road track. Young people can come along from the age of 11 to 18.

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GO Run For Fun is an international campaign, set up to inspire children to be more active through fun short-distance running events. It has been a phenomenal success so far with over 290,000 children having taken part since 2013. Running is simple, and children do it naturally.

It’s fun, good for their confidence and great for their health and development. It’s not expensive, and is the basis for so many other sports. If kids catch the bug early enough they tend to stick with it and this leads to a more active and healthy lifestyle.

Our well organised running events encourage children to prepare themselves for the challenge of completing a 2km fun run, to give it their best on the day and to make their run a memorable achievement.

GO Run For Fun currently takes place in UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, USA, Mexico and Singapore – and we are still growing!

Find out more on our ConnectSport directory page