This semester, the University of Stirling’s netball club will be running free netball classes for primary school children in the Raploch area of the city. It is one of the most deprived areas in Stirling with many social challenges such as low-income and high crime rates.
The netball classes will take place at Raploch community campus which is currently completely underutilized for sport. There is a football club, which is extremely popular but that is where the opportunities for sports end.
Since netball lines were put in a couple of years ago Active Stirling has been running lunchtime netball for pupils which has been received well. This lead to the Stirling University netball club teaming up with Active Stirling to offer these after school classes.
All the volunteers are Stirling University netball club members who are giving their time up every week to be involved.
Netball president Leah Syme said:
We are all so excited about this new opportunity! As a collective, we as a club are very passionate about netball and we are so grateful that we are able to help young children whilst doing what we love.
Most of us were brought up playing the sport and it has had a massive impact on our lives in one way or another. There are huge positives that come from playing sport; maintaining a healthy lifestyle both physically and mentally, meeting new friends and acts as a release from any pressure or stress boosting self-esteem.
As Raploch is known to be a deprived area in the city we are so happy to be helping in any way that we can, and hope we can use our knowledge and passion for the sport to have a positive impact on the children.
The classes are completely free and are for parents and guardians as well as kids, allowing them to have an opportunity to have fun whilst learning a new sport together. This is a fantastic project to increase enthusiasm for the sport in an area that needs it most.
The initiative begins on the 16th of January and runs for six weeks.If you want to volunteer, step one is being part of the netball club. This is just one of the great projects they are involved in.
The club offers social training and games, as well as having several competitive teams. Send them a message on Facebook if you would like to get involved or contact Club President Leah Syme via email at:
les00046@students.stir.ac.uk. https://www.facebook.com/stirlingnetball/
Film Media and Journalism student at the University of Stirling. Editor in Chief at Brig Newspaper. Edinburgh / Stirling
