Future home of the multi-functional sports facility in the London Borough of Lewisham
Sport Court, through its Courts for Communities program, teamed with Beyond Sport and The London Mayors Office to select a recipient of the annual Sport Court Court Award, the award of a state-of-the-art Sport Court® game court.
This year, the London Borough of Lewisham was presented with the Sport Court Court Award and will receive a multi-functional sports facility where girls and boys can play and learn the values taught by sport.
The Sport Court® outdoor court will be designed in conjunction with Phoenix Community Housing and its youth led agency. Phoenix is a non-profit resident–led housing association (Community Gateway) where residents are shareholders and take a decision making roll in the community. This model was designed to empower citizens by transferring government controlled housing into the hands of the community. Phoenix’s youth led agency will oversee the project and design the new outdoor court based on sports that the community wants to play - likely including futsal, basketball, and tennis.
Watch this video to learn more about the Phoenix Community Housing's youth agency.
“It was an honor to present the award to Phoenix CH and the residents of Lewisham,” said Brandi Bloodworth Connolly, Sr. Director at Connor Sport Court International. “We are thrilled that through our Courts for Communities program we could partner with Beyond Sport to provide the children of Lewisham a safe place to play, a place that allows them to learn the values taught by sport.”
As part of an ongoing legacy, this is the fourth community court Beyond Sport has created in partnership with Sport Court. This year Coaches Across Continents, a Sport Court partner, will join the team and provide program support by teaching Phoenix youth how to use sport for social development.
“We are excited to implement our sport for social impact program with Phoenix. This will benefit the community by helping Phoenix's youth led agency develop its own sports initiatives.” Sarah Brown, Coaches Across Continents.
Sport Court has been an active partner of Beyond Sport since its inception and continues to make waves in the Sport for Social Change movement.
“Providing children with the right to play in safe spaces around the world is so important, and is something that we at Beyond Sport constantly strive to achieve through our work with local communities,” said Nick Keller, Founder, Beyond Sport. “Special thanks to Sport Court for making it happen."
To learn more about how to get involved in the Sport for Social Change movement visit: www.beyondsport.org
To learn more about training coaches to use sport for development visit: www.coachesacrosscontinents.org