Sporting scheme is right up your street (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Sporting scheme is right up your street

5:53pm Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Sport

A PROJECT co-founded by Blackburn Rovers star David Dunn is going from strength-to-strength.

STREETS UK was formed in 2010 with close friend John Magee and uses sports to mentor youngsters.

The pair have developed a programme to help young people understand the importance of education and the consequences of risk taking – using sport as a vehicle.

And so far, STREETS UK has received positive feedback from all the schools who have joined the initiative.

The latest to take part is Darwen Vale High School who took part in a programme called Invest in the Best.

“All participants take part in a sport of their choice and while they do the whole group take part in mentoring session to help them understand what can be having a negative impact on them as individuals,” said Magee. “One of the many successes of the programme is that it is nationally accredited by AQA that has helped so many young people.”

Sports children take part in include football, dodgeball, badmington and table tennis.

Thanks to that hard work of Dunn and Magee, STREETS are working with many primary and secondary schools in the borough.

They have come up with a unique way of using sport to deal and understand the consequences of problems such as anti social behaviour, crime, gangs, alcohol and drugs and racism.

The aim is to roll the programme out nationally and to work with as many Premier League and Football League clubs as possible.