Last week, Vincent’s Club, a club for Oxford male Blues, held a three day pilot event for their new outreach program. Their aim is to work with local under-funded state schools while promoting the concept of the “student athlete”, according to the head of the Outreach Committee, Jonathan Hudson.
The pilot project for the program, held at Iffley Road Sports Ground, was attended by roughly 50 year six students from SS Mary & John Primary School. The event was run by University sportsmen from various disciplines who, according to Hudson, aimed to convey the importance of “communication, teamwork and leadership” in later life.
The future prospects of the program are bright, with Vincent’s Club aiming to run three more similar events with different state schools around Oxford. The eventually hope to develop these events into mentoring schemes, where “Oxford student athletes would mentor a young aspiring athlete from a local school in both academics and sport’.
A teacher at the event commented, “The way they interacted with the children was so professional yet child-friendly – they all bonded with the kids in one way or another”.
