Cougars first to tackle youth awards (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Cougars first to tackle youth awards

10:38am Tuesday 18th May 2010 in Business By Chris Holland

Keighley Cougars has become the first Rugby League club in the country – and possibly the first sporting body – to offer a recognised qualification through a ground-breaking sports-education awards programme.

Sporting Chance, designed to equip young people from local disadvantaged communities with new learning and life skills, is being run in conjunction with Incommunities, the district’s biggest social housing landlord.

Cougars’ second partner is CRI, a national social care charity that has designed and accredited a tailor-made educational programme to address and mitigate some of the serious social issues facing young people in the Keighley district.

It provides a range of educational and sporting activities in a safe environment away from the drugs and crime seen on some of the town’s estates.

Sporting Chance is being delivered by Keighley Cougars player and youth project worker Jonny Presley.

The programme’s objective is to provide work experience and job opportunities to young people aged 13 to 19, as well as opening up access to other activities, such as climbing and mountain biking.

The Sporting Chance award, being launched at Cougar Park today, is the equivalent of one GCSE A*-C pass and includes seven modules covering coaching, enterprise, environment, education and employment, democracy, healthy lifestyles and safer communities.

Helen Carter, Keighley Cougars general manager, said: “We are the first Rugby League club to offer such an award and, we believe, the first sporting organisation too. The programme is purpose-built to provide individual development plans for each young person to help them fulfil their true potential and realise their aspirations.“