A SCHEME has been launched to give youngsters the chance to improve their sporting skills.

St Bede’s High School has teamed up with Blackburn Rovers as part of the Premier League for Sport Launch. The project sees the school and Blackburn Rovers Community Trust working in partnership to enhance the sporting opportunities for young people in the area.

The innovative Premier League 4 Sport (PL4S) project started in September 2009 and has helped tens of thousands of young people get involved in sport in their local community.

Delivered by the Premier League, Sport England and the Youth Sport Trust and funded by a £3.8m partnership with the UK Government, PL4S sees Premier League Clubs acting as a hub linked to community sports facilities, which in turn are linked to local secondary schools to create satellite sports centres.

Each Premier League Club has a dedicated coordinator who works locally with the sports clubs and schools to maximise opportunities for young people.

The scheme offers opportunities in the four Olympic sports of badminton, judo, table-tennis and volleyball – so far more than 27,000 youngsters have taken part in 9,000 new club and taster sessions, with over 80 new clubs being established across the four sports.

With an additional £2m of investment to take the project through to 2013, it will enable PL4S to provide extra legacy to build on the 2012 Olympic Games in London as well as introduce four new sports – basketball, handball, hockey and netball.

PL4S has three main objectives: n Provide chances for young people to take part in sport outside school hours n Increase the diversity of sport n Improve the infrastructure and supporting links between schools and clubs Christopher Bentley, director of physical education at St Bede’s said: “The Premier League for Sport initiative has proven to be a huge success in supplementing the work the Physical Education Department has undertaken with our pupils.

“This is a fully inclusive programme and it offers guidance, technical instruction plus the finances to support the continued sporting development for our pupils and young leaders from pupils with special educational needs right through to pupils competing at local, county and National level.

“We cannot thank Claire Newton and her community team enough for their continued involvement and we are extremely proud to represent Blackburn Rovers in volleyball, football, table tennis and badminton.”