Shrewsbury College held a special Sports Festival to showcase a huge range of ways for students to get active thanks to £55,000 in grant funding.

Students can look forward to better opportunities to get involved in sport after National Lottery investment from Sport England’s Further Education Activation Fund was granted earlier in the year.

The College is one of 62 projects at further education and sixth form colleges across England to benefit from £4 million of funding to help get 59,000 new students playing sport.

The College applied for the funding for its project ‘Sport for Choice’ and consulted over 800 students to find out what would encourage them to play more sport – the festival showcases the results.

The project aims to increase cross-College participation and links to the community and the College is increasing its existing sport provision and introducing new sports to encourage students who don’t currently participate to get involved.

The Sports Festival was organised by John Rhodes, the College’s new Sports Maker, and showcased an extensive range of sports tasters. These include Yoga, Fitness Classes, Lacrosse, Tag Rugby, American Football, Football, Futsal, Cricket, Archery, Ultimate Frisbee, a Climbing Wall, Tennis, Netball Match, and more!

Many external sports providers and partners also came along to the College including Inspire to Coach, The Shrewsbury Club, Energize Shropshire Telford & Wrekin and more.

John said: “It’s a great chance for students to get a taste of sports they may never have tried and they can sign up for any sports they like so that we can then look to offer regular participation for them throughout the year ahead.

“Pushing sports such as archery, rock climbing and American Football, as well as increasing existing sports like girl’s football and netball, will offer our students more opportunities to find a fitness session or club which suits them. It’s all part of our commitment to making extra-curricular activities and the health of our students a priority.”

Sam Heseltine, Sport Lecturer at the College who put the bid together said: “This Lottery funding means we can provide an inclusive programme for all college students. Having listened to the ‘students voice’ we can now offer them access to sport-specific coaches in a broad range of activities, inspiring them to start and enjoy sport and increase their level of activity.”

“We believe our project will improve the health and well-being of our students, raising their aspirations and their quality of life in college.”

For more information on Sports courses including the new Foundation Degree in Sports Coaching and Physical Education at Shrewsbury College, please call Course Advice on 01743 342411 or visit www.shrewsbury.ac.uk