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