MENCAP TOURNAMENT AT SCORE

LOCSP Press Release - Friday 30th January 2009

MENCAP TOURNAMENT AT SCORE

Group shot from the Mencap Tournament at Score today.

A CHEER-FULL TIME FOR RIVER LEA PRIMARY - NFL TAMPA BAY CHEERLEADERS AT SCORE

LOCSP Press Release – Friday 30 January 2009

A CHEER-FULL TIME FOR RIVER LEA PRIMARY

Ayae, Susan, Barbara, Lori and Marlana from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American Football NFL Cheerleading team took time out last Friday from their hectic nationwide schedule of appearances to run a cheerleading workshop for the youngsters of River Lea Primary at Score, Leyton.

The cheerleaders were in England to coincide with Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa as well as promoting the NFL game at Wembley in October between the Buccaneers and the New England Patriots.

Run by Paul Motion, NFL Development Officer at Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) as part of the work between LOCSP and NFL UK, the hour session saw the young girls run through a series of cheerleading exercises and skills before the Florida ladies showed off a full match routine.

The young students then had an opportunity to take part in a question and answer session and pose for photographs, with every participant receiving a fantastic signed Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleaders squad photo.

After the session the cheerleaders headed down to Draper’s Field to support the ‘Friday Night is NFL Flag Football’ night for 14-19 year olds every Friday night from 4pm – 6pm.

Susan, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Cheerleader in her rookie year said:

“This is my first time in London, but, coming from Florida, I love the cold! The
girls here today in Leyton have been excellent and did a great job.

“They have told us they will be starting a cheerleading club at their school now which is great news – we aim to inspire young people to set themselves goals and work hard to achieve them.

“We all look forward to coming back to England in October!”

Aliyah, 9, Pupil at River Lea Primary School said:

“I felt really excited about the class as I really like cheerleading – I couldn’t wait!

“First we learnt some of the steps, then ‘high v’, ‘low v’ and ‘half t’ and then their touchdown routine.

“We then ran through the ‘rainstorm’ exercise, using our hands and feet - we started off quietly, then went loud and then loud to quiet.

“At the end they showed us the dances they do when they are on the pitch which I really enjoyed.

“The best thing about cheerleading is making the people you are cheerleading for feel they have got your support.

“The cheerleaders were very pretty and really nice – I am a Tampa Bay fan now!”

Marie Ebefourie, PE Co-ordinator/Teacher, River Lea Primary School said:

“This was a great opportunity for our pupils to come down and learn some
cheerleading skills from the world’s best. When they heard they were coming they
were really excited – some said they couldn’t sleep the night before!

“The workshop was excellent – they went right down to the girls level and went through routines and exercises a number of times, including games that the girls really enjoyed. It was very positive and encouraging for them to hear from a team of NFL Cheerleaders that they were doing really well.

“We will take this back to school and start a cheerleading club and have the girls
actually lead the sessions rather than an adult like me, which will be really good for their personal development and as young leaders.

“Cheerleading is an excellent sport as it is really active and gives girls an opportunity to participate in a sport away from boys and have something they can call their own.”

LOCSP and the NFL UK are running a ‘NFL Junior Player Development’ camp at Draper’s Field in February half term (Weds 18, Thurs 19 & Fri 20). The camp is a fully-kitted and full-contact three day event open to Girls and Boys aged 14-18.

For more information about the LOCSP NFL activities please contact Paul Motion, LOCSP NFL Development Officer on 020 8556 5973 or email paul.motion@locsp.org.

BBC LONDON TV VISIT SCORE FOR HANDBALL

LOCSP Press Release: Thursday 29th January 2009

BBC London TV Visit Handball at Score

Adrian Warner, Olympics Correspondent for BBC London, alongside Paul Goodwin, CEO, British Handball, visited Score today for a piece to go out on BBC London at 6:30pm tonight about funding cuts for Olympic sports, of which Handball is one.

Miriam Pupalova, LOCSP Handball Development Officer, brought her Newham Flames teams down for a practice match and was also interviewed for the piece.

HACKNEY V REDBRIDGE FOUR-A-SIDE FOOTBALL IS DIAMOND!

LOCSP Press Release – Thursday 29 January 2009

HACKNEY V REDBRIDGE FOUR-A-SIDE FOOTBALL IS DIAMOND!

This week saw the first-ever Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) ‘Diamond 4’ football competition held at Hainault Youth Centre in Redbridge.

The Diamond 4 format of playing football was introduced by LOCSP to encourage control and ball skills leading to being comfortable and confident in possession, whilst the small-sided game also allows for lots more contact with the ball.

All six of the London boroughs that LOCSP work in (Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest) now host or visit another borough on a monthly basis, usually in a tournament format. This can be a specific sport, as in this case, or a multi-sport competition.

Redbridge met Hackney over the Diamond 4 football competition last week, the two boroughs represented by two teams each made up of U14 regulars at both the Hainault Youth Centre Kickz sessions and the Mabley Green sessions in Hackney.

Each team played the others twice with the top two playing out an exciting final that saw Redbridge beat Hackney 4-2. Running alongside this was a ‘Skills Crew’ competition – similar to the Soccer AM TV programme ‘Skill School’, which saw youngsters try their skills against each other.

Howard Gould, LOCSP Redbridge Community Development Officer said:

"We have been playing a version of Diamond 4 for a while here at Hainault and so
had no worries that it would be a success. The young people picked up the simple
rules very quickly and some of the skills on display were tremendous – a joy to
watch.

“It was also brilliant to see young people from different boroughs mixing and applauding each other, looking forward to playing each other again and proving that the work we do is definitely worthwhile".

Yassin Abidou, LOCSP Hackney Development Officer said:

“Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and the Diamond 4 concept was a great success. I’d like to thank Wendy at Redbridge Council for being a wonderful host
and for looking after the boys from Hackney with lots of refreshments.

“Thanks also to Howard for the invitation and other staff on the day including Dominic, Keon and Yacine.

“Everyone is looking forward to Howard bringing his team down over February half-term for the return tournament.”

For more information about LOCSP in Redbridge please contact Howard Gould on 020 8556 5973 or email howard.gould@locsp.org

For more information about LOCSP in Hackney please contact Yassin Abidou on 020 8556 5973 or email yassin.abidou@locsp.org.

GAELIC FOOTBALL COMES TO LEYTON

LOCSP Press Release – Thursday 29 January 2009

GAELIC FOOTBALL COMES TO LEYTON

Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) continued in its quest this week to develop a plethora of sports for the young people of east London as Gaelic Football came to Leyton.

LOCSP coaches tried their hand at Gaelic Football thanks to a development coaching session run by the GAA London Community Development team aimed to introduce the basics of the sport to the coaches which can then be rolled out across the six London boroughs that LOCSP work in, thus ensuring that the GAA sports can spread across the capital.

Gaelic Football, one of the worlds oldest codified sports and played by 6,000 young people in England every week, is one of the four sports organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) alongside Hurling, Rounders and Gaelic Handball.

The session started with a presentation about the GAA history and discussion about the basic rules and skills before the rules and skills were put into practice, culminating in a small fun game amongst the coaches.

Neil Taylor, Chief Executive, Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme said:

“Having the GAA come down to coach our coaches in the art of Gaelic Football
represents our ongoing commitment to making a whole range of sports and
activities available to the young people we work with.

“The GAA have a wonderful history and are looking to develop their games in London through us which we are more than happy and able to do.”

Martin McGrath, Community Games Development Officer, London GAA said:

“As one of the best sports development set-ups in the country we are looking to
work with Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme to make links with the
London community and develop the GAA sports, particularly Gaelic Football,
throughout the city.

“Gaelic Football can be modified to suit any situation or set-up and can enhance skills for other games, such as rugby.

“It was absolutely important to emphasise the history of the game to the coaches
here today as the GAA is celebrating its 125th Anniversary this year and represents the ideal opportunity to develop the GAA sports in London and across England.”

Robert Tromans, LOCSP Community Development Officer, Participant said:

“It was really interesting to hear about the history and passion of the GAA
games and once the coaches started taking you through the basics it was really
easy to pick up.

“The sport will be very easy to implement throughout our sessions and multi-sports days and it is definitely a sport that the young people will be able to grasp straight away.”

Karen Togher, Community Games Development Officer, London GAA said:

“The Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme staff were absolutely brilliant
today, I couldn’t believe the quality - they were very good. I expected to have
to do a lot more coaching, but because they are so multi-skilled in all the different sports they coach and play in the community, taking up Gaelic Football was really easy for them.

“They are really enthused about taking the game into their community sessions, so fingers-crossed it will carry on from here.

“All they really need to organise the sport is a football - you don’t need specialist equipment. In fact, most schools and sports organisations have this equipment already, plus the game can be modified very easily to the playing area or participants you have.

“At Primary School level it is non-contact and we start off with the real basics; hand pass, toe tap and the basic five skills. At Secondary School level it is contact for boys at whilst remaining non-contact for girls and we look to progress their skills into the competitive club environment and we aim for them to be playing once a week at school.

“If anyone reading this has played Netball, Basketball, Tag Rugby, NFL Flag Football then you can adapt the skills to use in Gaelic Football, so why not give it a go?!”

Tommy Harrol, Chairman of the London Senior County Board, GAA said:

“Gaelic Football has been in London since 1896, but only in the past year were
we able to employ our first-ever full-time development officers.

“Up to now it has been voluntary, but one of the positive aspects of professionalism is that we can now have these two excellent full-time staff going into the community during the day whereas in the past they were only available in the evening after work.

“We aim to get the sport into every London borough and that is why we are working with Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme because of the tremendous potential they have in their six boroughs.

“We are now working in 29 Primary and Secondary schools throughout London and I would like to see the Gaelic Games resurface again through new clubs being formed and increasing the number of schools we work with.

“The GAA is a worldwide organisation now and any young people that play Gaelic Football through the Leyton Orient link-up has the potential to reach our London
developmental squads and play tournaments both at home and abroad!”

The GAA has future plans to hold high-profile, competitive games in London in the near future, but if you cannot wait until then, London has a team in Division Four of the Irish National League, who play at the Emerald GAA Grounds in Ruislip – their first game is this Sunday.

The London GAA is also running coaching courses in Ruislip in the next few weeks. For more information about the London GAA please visit their website at www.londongaa.org.

For more information about Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme please contact Phil Rudling on 020 8556 5973 or email philip.rudling@locsp.org.

BARKING & DAGENHAM GOALS TOURNAMENT EXPANDS

LOCSP Press Release – Tuesday 27 January 2009

BARKING & DAGENHAM GOALS TOURNAMENT EXPANDS

Last Friday night saw Councillor Emmanuel Obasohan, The Worshipful The Mayor of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham attend the Goals Soccer Centre at Dagenham Leisure Park for the finale of the Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) Barking & Dagenham five-a-side football league.

From next week the free 6pm – 9pm Friday night league for girls and boys aged 16-19 will expand to a cross-borough tournament featuring teams from Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney and Waltham Forest.

With that in mind, there was extra impetus for the young people to prove they were the kings of Barking & Dagenham with teams attending from across the borough including Gascoyne, Parsloes, Scrattons, Romford, St. Mary’s, Dagenham, Castle Green, Greatfields, Becontree, Heathway, Eastbury amongst others.

Each league runs consecutively for six weeks with prizes given for the best team on the night and the best team over the past six weeks with points given for wins, draws, punctuality, sportsmanship and behaviour.

The Gascoyne ‘B’ team consisting of Egzon Asllani, Kevin Mukendi, Aaron Dempsey, Florence Marqeshi, Mauro Fortes have been the most consistent since the sessions started back in 2007, winning the overall six week league a massive 13 times and last Friday was no different as they took the overall honours again.

The Mayor took time out to watch the matches and conduct individual presentations and inspiring speeches to those who had won trophies and medals over the six-week period and on the night.

From Friday 30th January the free league is open to teams and individuals from across east London and for girls and boys aged 16-19.

For more information please contact Taskin Huseyin, LOCSP Barking & Dagenham Community Officer on 020 8556 5973 or email taskin.huseyin@locsp.org.

Quotes:

Taskin Huseyin, LOCSP Barking & Dagenham Development Officer said:

“We’ve got a limit of 15 teams here but could easily get 25-30 because of the
good work that my staff – Shaz, Paris, Ben and Steve – do, making it as
enjoyable and competitive as possible.

“A lot of the people here are friends now and that is a lot of the reason why they come down here.

“Next week we will have teams from other boroughs coming down to compete
and the young people from Barking and Dagenham are definitely looking forward to
playing them – they want more competition and to pit their wits against other
boroughs.

“The night isn’t just about playing football though as we have involved some of the participants in our development work – we have put two of the Gascoyne ‘B’ players through their FA Level One in Coaching Awards and are now looking at them coming to work with us. We aim to create exit routes for the young people through running sessions like this on a Friday night.

“The Mayor was very impressive and also impressed with what we done here. He went out and spoke to a lot of the young people out there who really appreciated it.
Having him here to watch them play football, present awards and give speeches
makes them feel proud.”

Councillor Emmanuel Obasohan, The Worshipful The Mayor of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham said:

“My presence here shows that whatever the people of Barking and Dagenham are
doing we have them in mind. We are role models and it is part of our
responsibility that every resident of our borough or within our community are
looked after - there isn’t any excuse for anyone to be isolated within our
borough.

“It is part of my responsibility and the councils’ to ensure that every resident is looked after academically, socially and emotionally.

“My favourite sport is football and I have been very impressed with the
skills on show and with the large crowd supporting in a positive way.

“Everyone involved – the young people, coaches and organisers - have
composed themselves in such a positive way to represent the borough and the
people should be proud of it, I am very happy to be part of it here tonight.”

Florence Marqeshi, 19, Gascoyne B (Overall winners of the six-week tournament) said:

“I think we have a good, strong, organised team and we can keep on winning this
competition. I am currently studying Electrical Engineering at London South
Bank University but I always find time to come here on Fridays as I really
enjoy it and it is worth the travelling.

“The teams we play are good teams who really give us a challenge, but our hard
work is what really gets us there. We do have to play extra hard all the time as
everyone tries that little bit extra when they see it’s us, plus our
cheerleaders really help too!

“With the cross-borough challenge coming we aim to carry on improving and learn from the other teams - they might have a quality that we don’t have and by playing and watching them we can learn from then and they can learn from us.

“You want to know and be known that you are the best team around, we’ll be coming here with a smile on our faces looking to win.

“It was really good to see the Mayor here watch and supporting what we do but I cannot thank Leyton Orient enough for providing this opportunity to play, plus training me up as a coach too.”

Taylor, 17, Dagenham, ‘Cheerleader’ for Gascoyne ‘B’ said:

“I started coming here as a social event instead of being on the street and
getting hassled. I then started to take more notice of what Gascoyne ‘B’ were
doing and started supporting them – we are not really ‘cheerleaders’ though!

“The new cross-borough tournament is something they feel they can do
well in so we will give them all the support they need – we are their sixth
player on the pitch!”

Julian Windy, 17, Barking (Runners-up on the night) said:

“I have been coming for a while as I love playing football. The secret to our
teams’ success is passing, keeping the ball moving and 100% teamwork. We are
looking forward to the new cross-borough tournament as we are always looking for
competition and to be tested.”

Jean Francois, 17, Barking (Runners-up on the night) said:

“The teams we have been playing against are fantastic and they have all been
great. The whole organisation has been great too - the referees have been giving
us a lot of support. We are looking forward to the new cross-borough competition
– bring it on!”

Paul Martini, Assistant Manager, Dagenham Goals Soccer Centre said:

“There’s not a great deal for young people to do around an area like this on a
Friday night, so events like this are positive for them to be involved with when
there are negative activities they could be getting involved with.

“The Mayor was a really lovely man – I have never met a mayor before. It’s great he’s interested and his visit means a lot to everyone here.”

Shazid Majid, LOCSP Community Coach / Referee said:

“When the league first started there were a few minor behavioural issues, but
now everyone gets on with each other and I have personally seen a lot of young
people break down barriers between themselves.

“The young people here are very passionate about this tournament and you see them bantering with each other when they leave – looking forward to seeing and playing each other the following week.

“There is a lot of skill on show here - two young people here are signed to a Premier League club for example.

“Gascoyne ‘B’ are winners because they are organised, play as a team, have been brought up together and their discipline is good.”

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL REPORTERS!

LOCSP Press Release – Monday 26 January 2009

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL REPORTERS!

Olympic medallist Steve Parry, two-time Olympic gold medallist Sarah Webb MBE and Paralympics swimming champion Giles Long MBE met a team of budding young sports journalists from Waltham Forest last week as part of the week-long activities of ‘Supporter to Reporter’ (S2R) - an inspiring new sports initiative for young people run by the Football Foundation and Radiowaves.

S2R is a national online sports channel where young people can share their passion for sport whilst developing their media skills. Working alongside professional journalists from BBC, Sky and ITV, the young S2R team report from local and national sports events to give a unique youth perspective to sports reporting.

Students of all ages and skill levels will be able to use and develop their natural interest in a wide range of sports whilst learning new skills and working towards formal qualifications.

Jordan Thomas, Chante Boyea, Ellie Bristol and Parys Lanlehin-Dobson from Tom Hood School, Leytonstone joined together with Vhaigunthan Thankarajah, Kane Shearing, Luke Foster, Anthony Ewin, Kurtis Coleman and Deus Bumaa from Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow to participate in the intensive week of training.

Pupils were selected according to their suitability and having excelled on a 10-week ‘Playing for Success’ study support programme at Leyton Orient Community Sports Programmes’ Education Centre (LOEC).

The week saw the youngsters visit BBC Television Centre for a behind-the-scenes tour and the chance to interview the BBC News TV sports presenter Dan Walker, as well as the opportunity to develop their journalistic skills even further at the Supporter to Reporter major national launch event hosted at the FA’s London Headquarters in Soho.

As well as meeting and interviewing the Olympians, the students were also able to speak to a whole host of high-profile sports reporting talent including BBC Radio’s Rob Nothman, Head of BBC World Sport Peter Jones plus a number of key figures from the Football Foundation, the week then culminated with the reporters attending the Leyton Orient v Bristol Rovers match.

Two of the team shadowed the Leyton Orient FC Press Officer Leo Tyrie to gain an insight into his role on a matchday whilst the other group members spoke with fans about their expectations of the game for ‘voxpops’. The group even managed to get exclusive interviews before the game with the O’s Dean Morgan and Charlie Daniels and Bristol Rovers' Ben Hunt.

At kick-off the reporters settled to watch, film and commentate on the game alongside reporters from BBC London, Orient Clubcall and the local press.

Half time saw the eager reporters interview the Orient youth team as well as some of the guests that were invited to the game by Leyton Orient to mark the successful Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme Salaam / Peace initiative. Neil Taylor – LOCSP Chief Executive, Sabir Bham – LOCSP Community Development Manager, Pippa Mills - Chief Inspector, Metropolitan Police in Hackney and coaching staff.

However, full-time saw the biggest coup of the day as the reporters not only interviewed Leyton Orient players Tamika Mkandawire and Charlie Daniels but they had the added scoop of Orient's Martin Ling's last ever interview as manager, before leaving the club the next morning.

Andree Selner, Senior Education Development Officer at Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme said:

"It was amazing to see how much the pupils actually produced from their week
with us on the project. The launch at the FA and the visit to the BBC were
amongst the highlights but the Leyton Orient FC matchday experience certainly
topped everything.

“The pupils used the skills they had gained to the maximum and their enthusiasm
never faltered. I would like to thank everyone involved in the project
especially our Radiowaves trainers for sharing their knowledge with us and
the Leyton Orient FC Press Officer, Leo Tyrie, for being so accommodating
and giving our reporters a true insight into the life of sports journalist."

To see the work of the young reporters at Leyton Orient – visit this link: http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/s/s2rLeyton

For the FA visit this link - http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/story/40280

For more information please contact Andree Selner, LOCSP Senior Education Development Officer on 020 8556 5973 or email andree.selner@locsp.org.

NOTES TO EDITORS
1. S2R is supported by The Football Foundation and Trafford and Northampton’s Children’s & Young People’s Services. It is being delivered through Radiowaves, the BETT Award-winning platform for schools and authorities that provides safe video, blogging, podcasting and networking tools for students.

2. Radiowaves is the world’s leading social media website in the education sector providing a safe space for 5-19yrs to publish audio and video podcasts and connect together within a national community. Firmly established within the education sector for the past six years, Radiowaves works with teachers and young people on a number of large scale national media projects. http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/

3. Playing For Success (PfS) is a partnership between the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), local authorities and a broad range of sports. Through Playing for Success, the DCSF and partners are establishing study support centres within sports clubs’ grounds and sporting venues. Centres are vibrant, exciting and stimulating places for young people to learn the key skills of literacy, numeracy and ICT. Tens of thousands of children have come out of the centres’ doors with improved skills, motivation and self-esteem, giving them a real boost and, in many cases, a new start on which they can build on back at school.

4. The Football Foundation is dedicated to revitalising the grass roots of the game, constructing modern football facilities, developing football as a force for social cohesion and as a vehicle for education in communities throughout the country. Funded by the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity with a £40m budget going straight into the heart of football. Since its launch in 2000 the Foundation has funded 6,000 projects worth £750m. For more information visit http://www.footballfoundation.org.uk/.

5. Tessa Jowell MP, Minister for the Olympics gives her full support to the project. “This project presents great opportunities to young people to make a difference to their education and their lifelong learning. Supporter to Reporter is both unique and innovative and provides a motivational tool to raise aspirations through inspiration. It is fantastic that more young people around the country will get the chance to be part of Supporter to Reporter and not only provide a 'young voice' to sporting occasions but to also give a 'sporting voice' to their own communities.
“I am delighted that the young people who are at the heart of this project are determined to integrate it into the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics ... I wish you all continued success as a result of this excellent project.”

6. Tim Riches (Founder and Director of Radiowaves) explains “Over the next three years we’ll be training hundreds of young journalists ready to report from the London Olympic Games in 2012. We want S2R to be a world leading sports channel created by young people. By taking part, our reporters can gain journalism and literacy skills and develop their self-confidence and motivation… and now - with the introduction of the ‘Young Sports Journalist of the Year’ strand - we will be able to identify and nurture the best new sports journalism talent from across the country!”

Over the past year, the scheme has been successfully piloted in the North West with the support of AIM HIGHER. Now, with the backing of the Football Foundation, the project will roll out nationally, enabling young people across the UK to benefit from this exciting opportunity.

7. Steve Futter, Senior Development Manager for Education & Lifelong Learning at The Football Foundation, says “We are really excited to be involved with S2R, largely because it is such an innovative project that seeks to improve outcomes for young people through the compelling mix of sport and media. Having been lucky enough to see a team of young reporters in action at the Guinness Premier final at Twickenham earlier this year, I was deeply impressed by the professionalism, confidence and skills of all the young people involved. Any project that can have such a significant impact on a group of young people from challenging backgrounds has to be worthy of the Foundation’s support.”

8. Video of the launch at FA Headquarters: http://www.radiowaves.co.uk/story/40158/playvideo

Hackney Year 7 and 8 Girls Inaugural Football Tournament

LOCSP Press Release – Monday 26 January 2009

INAUGURAL SUCCESS FOR YEAR 7 & 8 GIRLS FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT!

The Bridge Academy on Laburnum Street recently hosted the inaugural Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) Hackney Girls Football Tournament, held on the astroturf pitches within Haggerston Park.

The tournament, for Year 7 & 8 girls, attracted teams from Our Lady's Convent RC School, Mossbourne Community Academy, Stoke Newington School, Haggerston School for Girls and The Bridge Academy.

The main section of the tournament was a round-robin competition which saw the top two teams play off in the final with Stoke Newington taking the honours beating Mossbourne 1-0 in a tense and action-packed match.

Alongside this a special ‘Skills Session’ also featured with teams attempting to score points by guiding a football through targets in a net and with its own silverware up-for-grabs it was a hard-fought affair but Mossbourne Community Academy came through victorious, racking up an impressive 38 points, pipping Stoke Newington School by two points.

Ellie, 11, Defender, Stoke Newington School (Winners of Tournament) said:
“Team work was the key to our success as we have been playing together since the beginning of the year. The games were hard and I will go into school and tell everyone about it.”

Gary Wambeek, PE Teacher, Stoke Newington School said:
“The side has been training together since September at school and with the Leyton Orient coaches on Thursday afternoons.

“We emphasised effort and team work throughout the whole day. The Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme staff have made everyone here feel welcome and we all really enjoyed it - an excellent day.”

Lee Hall, Trainee Teacher, Stoke Newington School said:
“The younger girls don’t often get the chance to play organised tournaments, so this win means a lot to them and will encourage them to continue to play in the future. I am sure they will show off to their friends and hopefully it will encourage them to take up the sport too.”

Mike O'Grady, PE Teacher, Mossborne Community Academy said:
“The tournament was a resounding success, due in most part to the hard work and incredible organisation and attention to detail of the dedicated LOCSP staff.

“We are very keen to continue working with Giles and Yassin at Leyton Orient on tournaments like this and welcome any help towards the development of girl’s football here, which is very popular.”

Giles Sandercock, LOCSP Girls Football Development Officer said:

“After having run very successful tournaments like this in Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest and have started looking towards new boroughs, such as Hackney.

“This was essentially a taster tournament to gauge the demand and with the great backing from the schools, teachers and participants everyone is really keen for the next one.

“Today was about fun and participating and hopefully getting the girls hooked on playing. The whole tournament was played in a really competitive and sporting manner with everyone staying until the end to cheer on the final teams.

“After February half term we will be running a five-week league available to all secondary schools in Hackney, so if anyone reading this is interested please contact me.”

For more information please contact Giles Sandercock, LOCSP Girls Football Development Officer on 020 8556 5973 or email giles.sandercock@locsp.org.

Notes for Editors:

1. Pam Oparaocha, Watch Manager, Clerkenwell Fire Station/Association of Black Professionals in the Fire Service said:
“The day was fantastic – there were a lot of hot skills on display. It was great to see all types of girls here playing alongside each other.

“I’ve really enjoyed myself. This is the start of something and I look forward to working with Leyton Orient in the future.

“As an active member of the Fire Service I am here as a role model encouraging young girls to broaden their horizons and look at the Fire Service as an alternative career.”

2. Les Bowman, Station Manager, Kingsland Fire Station, London Fire Brigade/Association of Black Professionals in the Fire Service said:
“I am here to highlight the positive roles that people from ethnic minorities can have in the community, as sometimes they are portrayed negatively.

“Pamela and I took part in the Skills Session because it’s important to get involved rather than just watching from the sidelines and it’s good to show that we are still young at heart and can engage with the young people.

“Every young girl tried their hardest today. It was good to speak to them and their teachers to look at ways we can get involved with mentoring and engaging them through sport to help them reach their potential.”

2008 Boys Eid Cup Presentation

LOCSP Press Release - Saturday 17 January 2009

The Orient match against Bristol Rovers saw a half time presentation for the winners of the 2008 Boys Eid Cup.

The tournament featured two football competitions for U18s and U14s and took place at Score with Waltham Forest winning at the U18 level and Tower Hamlets at the U14 level (for more information please see www.leytonorient.net).

Both teams dined in the Olympic Suite prior to the match and at half time received their respective trophies on the pitch from Phil Poole and Inspector Pippa Mills from the Metropolitan Police (Hackney) and Sergeant Steve Falconer (British Army).

As part of the Salaam Peace initiative, the Eid Cup, which started in 2007, is a national established sports tournament for boys and girls and today also sees the pre-launch of the Salaam Peace National Community Engagement Programme by Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP), Positive Futures and Youth Solutions.

Salaam Peace, whose Patron is LOCSP founder Neil Watson, is the brainchild of both Sab Bham (Community Engagement Director) and Rashid Bhayat (Strategic Director). The Salaam Peace Programme addresses the Home Office Agenda on PVE (Prevent Violent Extremism) using the Positive Futures model.

The match also saw partners such as the Metropolitan Police, Army, Hackney Homes, City of London Corporation, V Team and Diageo in attendance.

The Salam / Peace programme has been developed after a number of meetings between youth and community work professionals around the country. More recently the Positive Futures National Team were invited to the Home Office to share their thoughts on how to develop a model of effective practice which would meet the requirements of the Prevent Strategy (NI 35).

There is a consistent theme where many agencies feel uneasy about the PVE agenda and the negative messages and challenges that the current framework brings. To challenge this, and provide a credible alternative that truly meets the needs of the Muslim community, in particular, young people; Salaam / Peace was born. The project is designed to raise the aspirations of young Muslims and ensure they continue to contribute to society as positive citizens, whilst allowing partners such as the Police, an opportunity to build positive relationships with young people.

The full launch of Salaam / Peace will take place on Wednesday 18 February, with the next Eid Cup for Girls on the same day as the O’s take on Walsall here - Saturday, March 21st and the next Eid Cup for Boys towards the end of the year.

LOCSP Coach Sherwin Stanley in Non-League Daily Newspaper

One of our coaches, Sherwin Stanley, who plays for Brentwood Town FC, recently appeared in the Non-League Daily newspaper.

A GOOD DAY AT GOODMAYES!

LOCSP Press Release: Wednesday 1 July 2009

A GOOD DAY AT GOODMAYES!

Leyton Orient Community Sports Programme (LOCSP) coaches today oversaw the annual Goodmayes Hospital/North East London NHS Trust Open Day football tournament as part of their continuing work on the Coping Through Football project.

Daniel Fenner, LOCSP Football Development Manager said:

“It was a really well run day with participants both female and male enjoying themselves despite the really hot temperature.

“The Coping Through Football team were excellent but were knocked out by the eventual winners, Air Football.

“Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and can’t wait for it again next year.”

For more information about LOCSP and Coping Through Football call 020 85565 5973, email enquiries@locsp.org or visit www.locsp.org