Lloyd's supports East London's biggest sports day

On Tuesday 3 August, Lloyd’s Community Programme supported Access Sport with their huge Sports JAM event held at Mile End Park Stadium. Sports JAM involves East London community clubs putting on sessions to encourage children on their summer holidays to take up an activity and meet their local representatives.

Against the striking backdrop of Canary Wharf, children aged 6 – 16 took part in competitive tournaments and tried out a variety of different sports, ranging from the more extreme, such as parkour and skateboarding, to dance, athletics and football.

Many of the children had never tried the sports on offer before. Two young boxers from Team GB, hoping to make it into the 2012 Olympic squad, sparred with the youngsters and gave tips on how to get into the game.

“Boxing was my favourite, I’ve never done it before but I definitely want to do it again”, one of the children said.

The day also gives clubs the opportunity to showcase what they can offer youngsters in their area. Philip, a basketball coach in Hackney, said:

“Events like today offer so much to these children. It gets them off the streets and provides them with a social group. I’ve had about 400 kids trying out basketball today and hopefully about 100 of those will come along to try out the club.”

Sporting celebrities were involved too. Gail Emms, Olympic silver medallist in badminton, joined the day to encourage children in the game and hit some shuttles with aspiring young players. And Rachel Yankey, who plays for the Arsenal Ladies and England football teams, met up with a Lloyd’s volunteer - and former opposing Chelsea Ladies player - to support the football activities on the day.

Nick Parkhill, Development Manger, London, for Access Sport said “Access Sport’s mission is to give children from the UK’s most disadvantaged communities access to a wide range of quality sport. Sports JAM provides a showcase for the clubs, and is a focal point for the development work that we do with the clubs all year round, so support from Lloyd’s Community Programme is hugely appreciated. Both the running of the event, and the long term impact could not be achieved without help from all the volunteers from the Lloyd’s insurance market who worked so hard to make this day a great success.”

Lloyd's Community Programme

Access Sport