The University of Central Lancashire has been awarded £101,000 to encourage 1,000 extra students to take part in sport.

University has been identified as when lots of people drop out of sport so the Sport England funding is part of a new initiative to get students more active, more often, The ‘Sport 4U’ project will see a new team of staff on campus from September working with UCLan staff to encourage students to join in sports they may have never tried before.

Jan Peace from UCLan said: “Sport 4U comes at an exciting time for sport, with the opening of our £15 million Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre and plans to include access to sports facilities within the new fees package from 2013.

“The target is to bring 1,000 new students into sport in the next three years and support them throughout their university life and give them additional skills they can use in future careers.”

The team will work in partnership with the Students’ Union and Preston City Council’s Sports Development team, which will motivate the students to get involved with a new and comprehensive programme of activity to provide more options for students to participate.

Steve Daley, Sports Development Manager at Preston City Council said: “Our vision is that Preston residents will be the best informed and most engaged in physical activity and sport opportunities in the Northwest. As a result, residents will progressively become the most physically active community in the region.

“The city of Preston will champion the benefits of an active lifestyle by using physical activity and sport as a tool to address social agendas such as education, health, regeneration, and crime reduction.

"We will provide a first class infrastructure fit for the 21st century, which will inspire and motivate more people to become active, stay active and fulfil their potential regardless of ability.”