Best of the West-Midlands
Check out what our West Midlands apprentices have been up to
A week ago today, we were celebrating International Women’s Day and celebrating the amazing work that our apprentices do for women in their community and as inspiration women themselves.
Our Employment Coach Becki got to visit some of our programmes and see the amazing work in action. A highlight was going to the Black Country to see some of the valuable work Sport4Life (one of our amazing employers) are doing.
Sport4Life is a sport-for-employment charity in the West Midlands and has also recently employed Jevaughni Robinson, a Coach Core Graduate who completed his Level 2 Community Activator Coach apprenticeship with Sport Birmingham.
First stop was at Hadley Stadium in Smethwick, to meet two Sport4Life coaches Nesta and Shahan who deliver basketball sessions to local young lads every Friday evening. Shahan said “When I was growing up I didn’t really have access to sport, I now want to provide young people with the opportunities I didn’t have. My passion is to provide a safe place where local young people can access sport and the group also really helps to promote good mental health. When the kids first started they were really quiet and didn’t have a lot of confidence, but now I’ve seen them all grow and form strong friendships with each other.”
Her next stop was Phoenix Colligate in West Bromwich to meet Izzy and Mia, two Sport4Life coaches who partner with AnyGirl Netball to deliver free sessions to girls in the local community. These netball sessions bring over 50 girls of all ages, religions and backgrounds together in a safe environment where they can play and talk. Being empowered through sport, the girls make friends and build bonds on and off the court to help them grow into strong independent women.
Mia, one of the coaches who works for Sport 4 Life and AnyGirl Netball, previously struggled with poor mental health and anorexia. She now talks about how sport has helped her recovery. She was at a Mental Health conference in Manchester last Thursday telling her story to over 200 people. Mia is also supporting Street Games as 1 of 5 young advisors helping to develop a Young Persons Manifesto in the lead-up to the elections 2024.
You can watch Mia’s story here: