Eight weeks with SportInspired: what I saw and learned

By Ayva Patel,
Marketing and Communications intern at SportInspired

A note from SportInspired:
This summer, Ayva joined SportInspired for an eight-week internship, experiencing different parts of our work first-hand. From Team Spirit Workshops and sports festivals to Legacy clubs. We invited her to reflect on what she saw, what she learned and what stood out to her during her time with us.

Over the course of eight weeks with SportInspired this summer, I not only experienced what the organisation does, but also got to see first-hand the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to play sport.

Between Team Spirit Workshops, festivals and Legacy Clubs, I saw that SportInspired does far more than simply encourage children to participate in sport. I watched children gain confidence, learn to work with others, find an outlet to express themselves and discover things about themselves that may not have been possible without sport.

Team Spirit Workshops

Team Spirit Workshops are the first part of the SportInspired journey, taking place in schools ahead of each sports festival. SportInspired visits schools to help build excitement for the festival and get students looking forward to taking part.

Students are split into teams and supported to create a team name, chant and poster that represent who they are.

I remember one workshop in Hackney where a team of eight students couldn’t decide on a name. We ended up combining all of their favourite things and somehow landed on The Red Fiery Wildcats.

At another school in Westminster, one group proudly called themselves The Ancient Egyptians, inspired by what they had just learned in class.

Students take a lot of pride in creating their team identity, and it is such a fun environment to be part of. Everyone contributes to the team poster by drawing pictures, writing their team name and decorating it with colourful pens and markers.

It is also a great way to involve students who may be shy, or even those who are not usually interested in sport.

Every Team Spirit Workshop finishes with the creation of a team chant. Each team comes up with a chant that can include dance moves, claps, stomps and songs to represent their team spirit.

One of my favourites was from a team called The Rolling Rockstars. They stood in a circle, clapping and stomping while chanting:

“We’re the Rockstars, we’ll go far!
We’re the Rockstars, here we are!
Goooo Rolling Rockstars!”

The goal of these workshops is to get children excited for the festival, but more importantly, excited to play sport. SportInspired aims to create a welcoming environment where every student feels included, even if sport is not usually something they enjoy.

Festivals

After the Team Spirit Workshops comes the sports festival, where students get the chance to put that team spirit into action and try a range of different sports.

The festivals were one of my favourite parts of the internship.

Each festival I attended featured six different sports throughout the day, giving students the chance to try activities they may never have experienced before. Some of the sports included wheelchair basketball, karate, judo, gymnastics, tennis, cricket and volleyball, just to name a few.

The day was divided into two halves. In the morning, teams rotated through three sports before lunch, and in the afternoon they completed the remaining three activities.

Throughout the day, students were encouraged to work together, support one another and, most importantly, have fun.

One thing that makes SportInspired festivals unique is that winning isn’t the main focus. While there is a trophy for the team that performs best in the sports, the biggest award of the day is the Team Spirit Trophy.

Teams earn this by showing enthusiasm, encouragement, teamwork and positivity throughout every activity.

Team spirit is all about feeling like you belong. It is about supporting your teammates, encouraging one another and creating an environment where everyone feels included. Those are exactly the values SportInspired wants students to associate with sport.

At the end of every festival, all of the students gather together while the trophy winners are announced. The room is always filled with excitement as everyone waits to hear who has won.

One of my favourite moments happened during a festival where one team lost almost every single sport. Despite that, their volunteer coach brought so much energy, and the students never stopped cheering each other on.

They kept chanting, encouraging one another and giving every activity their best effort.

By the end of the day, they won the Team Spirit Trophy, not because they had won the most games, but because they showed the most positivity, resilience and teamwork.

That moment perfectly represented what SportInspired is all about to me.

Legacy Clubs

The festival is not where the experience ends. It leads into SportInspired’s Legacy Clubs: fully funded, 10-week after-school sports programmes that give young people in underserved communities the opportunity to continue taking part in sport.

Once a festival is over, schools decide which sport their students enjoyed the most. SportInspired then provides that sport as a free after-school programme, giving students the opportunity to continue participating and develop new skills.

During my internship, I had the chance to visit several Legacy Clubs.

One of my favourites was a taekwondo programme. After school, students gathered in the sports hall excited to begin. They practised different techniques, worked on kicks and punches using padded targets and stayed fully engaged throughout the session.

Students learned discipline, focus, patience and teamwork while still having fun.

These programmes give children an outlet outside of the classroom where they can build confidence, stay active and develop skills that can benefit them long after the programme ends.

The Legacy Clubs are what make SportInspired’s model so impactful. Rather than introducing students to a sport for just one day, they create an opportunity for children to continue participating and, hopefully, develop a lifelong love of sport.

Final Thoughts

Looking back across the Team Spirit Workshops, sports festivals and Legacy Clubs, one of the things that stood out most to me was seeing how each stage gives children a different opportunity to get involved, try something new and build confidence.

Through my internship, I have been able to watch students discover a love for sport while trying activities they may never have experienced otherwise.

SportInspired gives children in underserved communities the opportunity to participate in sports that might not normally be accessible to them. Many of the sports introduced through the festivals are ones that students have never played before, or sometimes never even heard of.

By exposing them to so many different activities, every child has the chance to find something they enjoy while feeling welcomed, included and supported.

Overall, my internship was an incredible experience.

It was rewarding to know that the work I was contributing to was helping children gain access to opportunities they may not otherwise have had. Seeing students grow in confidence, find joy in sport and genuinely look forward to participating is something I’ll never forget.