Sports sessions help offenders break the cycle

Young offenders are getting involved in Community Sports sessions delivered under the guidance of Tameside Sport Services coaching staff to boost their social and sporting skills.

The sessions, run on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays use sport to break down barriers and develop friendships for young offenders. The young people are referred from agencies to attend once a week to play football and other sports with other people from the community.

Having recently been opened to boys aged 16 and over from the wider community, it gives young people a more constructive way to spend their evening by playing ‘The Beautiful Game’. They are encouraged to make their own rules in addition to classic football rules and enforce them on the pitch by matches being refereed by the young people themselves.

They then are given the option to be signposted by Sports Development Officers to courses which enable them to become sports coaches or volunteers and broaden their options for work and qualifications. There are currently over 30 young people attending the session delivered at the Tameside Stadium.