Community programmes
Encouraging Active Lifestyles
Physical activity plays an important role in building motivation and self-esteem for young people, not to mention helping them stay healthy. For this reason, encouraging young people to be more physically active is a central part of our overall approach.
It’s an issue we address in two ways – firstly, by supporting community-based programmes such as the ‘Minute Maid’ Schools’ Cup; and secondly, by investing in research to understand the best ways of encouraging young people to take part in physical activity.
Minute Maid Schools Cup
As part of our commitment to encouraging young people to be physically active, we’ve been working with the English Schools’ Football Association since 2003. Together we created the ‘Coca-Cola’ English Schools Cup, a knock-out football tournament in which boys and girls aged 12 to 13 from all parts of England compete in what has been described as ‘their very own FA cup.’
As part of our responsible approach to secondary schools and in line with our new secondary schools portfolio in England, the tournament was re-branded The ‘Minute Maid’ Schools Cup in 2006 – in partnership with Minute Maid 100% Juice.
- 40,000
- pupils participate in the 'Minute Maid' Schools Cup each year.
The ‘Minute Maid’ Schools Cup is now the largest schools’ football tournament in Europe, involving over 2,600 schools and 40,000 secondary school pupils every year. It’s closely aligned to the Government’s strategy of encouraging learning through PE and sport and is endorsed by the Department for Children, Families and Schools and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The impact of the ‘Minute Maid’ Schools Cup cannot be under-estimated. It makes a real contribution to our goal to rejuvenate competitive school sport in this country. It provides a wonderful opportunity for boys and girls to take part in competitive football and to play at a top football venue.” ED BALLS MP, SECRETARY OF STATE, DEPT. FOR CHILDREN, SCHOOLS AND FAMILIES
JAMES PURNELL MP, SECRETARY OF STATE, DEPT. FOR CULTURE, MEDIA & SPORT
The ‘Minute Maid’ Schools Cup has enjoyed a tremendous season in 2006/07 with more than 3,400 hours of football and over £100,000 of sports equipment donated to participating schools.
Congratulations go to Walbottle Campus School, Newcastle and Tideway School, Newhaven who scooped the boys’ and girls’ titles respectively during the season.
We’re particularly proud that more girls are taking part: this season alone attracted over 1,000 girls’ teams. Importantly, playing football and participating in the competition is having a positive effect on girls’ lifestyles and self-esteem.
We conducted a survey of female participants in 2007 which found that 70% of football-playing girls rate their confidence as ’high’ or ’average’ while 84% believe that playing sports correlates to ‘a healthier attitude to life’ and ’a healthier body image’.
For more information, see www.minutemaidschoolscup.co.uk.
Coca-Cola 7s
The Coca-Cola 7s is an annual 7-a-side football tournament run in partnership with the Scottish Football Association. It is open to school teams of boys and girls aged 12 to 13 and importantly, schools can enter an unlimited number of teams. That means it’s not just the elite players that get to play – everyone’s involved.
The teams compete for the chance to play in the final at Hampden Park, Scotland’s national stadium. And all participants also receive skills training and coaching from UEFA qualified ex-professional footballers.
Since its creation in 2001, the programme has involved over 37,000 players. Between them, these players have burnt off more than 87,000,000 calories and run a distance of 240,000 miles. This is equivalent to nearly 10 times around the world! For more information visit www.coca-cola7s.co.uk.
Community Investment in Wales
We have invested over £500,000 in grassroots sports and physical activity in Wales over the past five years. We have supported a wide range of programmes including the Welsh Rugby Schools Cup, the schools outreach programme undertaken by the Rhondda Rebels Basketball team, the Welsh Junior Golf Championship and the South Wales Police Football Coaching Programme. Together, these programmes have benefited over 40,000 young people in 225 Welsh schools in the past five years.
Coventry Sports Partnership
CCE supported the Coventry Sports Challenge during April 2007. This two-day event involved both Coventry City Football Club and Coventry Crusaders basketball team in a bid to get 11 to 15 year olds active during the Easter break.
The Challenge took the form of morning and afternoon training sessions in both football and basketball – breeding a healthy rivalry between fans of the two sports! The sessions were led by Dave Busst (defender for Coventry City), Dip Donaldson (star of Coventry Crusaders) and teams of top coaches from both clubs.
