[04 APR 11] CRUSADER NEWS

Southfields to represent area at National Finals

By Adam Manning, Crusaders press officer

Coventry Crusaders brought down the curtain on the third year of its Hoops 4 Health primary school initiative last week as six schools competed in the Coventry & Solihull Warwickshire basketball finals.

Primary schools St.John Vianney, Good Shepherd, Wyken Croft, Coppice Junior, Shrubland Street and Southfields all progressed from their regional tournaments, which were end products of workshops covering healthy living and basketball.

Southfields Primary School ended up the overall winner after winning all four of their games, and will now represent Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire at the National Finals at Birmingham’s NIA on Saturday 30 April.

Speaking after his side’s clean sweep in the local finals - which saw Southfields go on a 12-point run to overturn a 4-0 deficit against Shrubland Street – Southfields teacher Dave Roach told Crusaders TV: “We’re an inner-city school in Coventry and they haven’t got a lot at school, and for them to get a medal is like winning a pot of gold. You can see by the look on their faces they just love it.”

“They were awesome again just like the last games we played. There was a team effort and they just got on with it and fought for each other.” 

This year has seen Crusaders deliver Hoops 4 Health to 29 primary schools in its second proper year following a pilot scheme in 2008/9. For the first time the programme was delivered outside Coventry, with Crusaders coaches travelling to Leamington, Kenilworth and Solihull to deliver workshops on nutrition, how the heart functions, the dangers of smoking and coaching basketball.

Funding by Subway, the Health Improvement Programme partnership between the NHS and Coventry City Council as well as Sport England and CSW Sport has enabled this to happen, and Crusader Foundation director Scott Neely wants the financial support to continue as he looks to expand the club’s catchment area.

“Overall I think it was a great success having doubled our delivery this year” Neely told Crusaders TV. “We delivered to thirteen schools last year and that was just in Coventry, and this year there were 29 schools that received the programme in Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire.”

“In the future we’d love to see it [Hoops 4 Health] expand into the Rugby and Nuneaton areas and continue to grow in Solihull. I know there’s already quite a bit going on in Solihull with primary school basketball running up there, but continuing to expand and offer the programme in Coventry would be the way we’d love to see it grow. Obviously we always need funding to support the programme and expand it.”

For more information about Hoops 4 Health and to sign up for next year’s Hoops4Health programme, which falls into the academic year, email Scott Neely at scott@crusaders.co.uk

To view photos of each school sign up to our facebook page - to watch coverage of the finals click here.

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