Showcasing Talent

The British Ethnic Diversity Sports Awards 

• Acknowledge and celebrate sporting excellence within Ethnically Diverse Communities.
• Drive change in sector – more role models from more communities in more sports
• Increase Ethnically Diverse Community participation and interest across sport 

 

The most successful sports personalities graced the red carpet at the first-ever Lycamobile British Ethnic Diversity Sport Awards (BEDSA) to celebrate excellence amongst Britain's outstanding Ethnically Diverse Community sports persons.

The prestigious awards, voted on by the public, were attended by a host of other sporting legends and stars including Olympic heptathlon gold medallist Denise Lewis, World and Olympic Champion, Christine Ohuruogu , Rugby World Cup winner, Maggie Alphonsi and Olympic gold medallist Jason Gardner. Other winners included Chris Powell for the FA Coach of the Year category. The awards also celebrated the fantastic  work being undertaken in the community to increase sport participation among Ethnically Diverse population.  

Olympic Gold medallist and sporting legend Denise Lewis, OBE was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award for her contribution to sport during her lifetime.

Arun Kang, the Chief Executive of Sporting Equals said "The awards mark a key milestone in the sporting calendar. The calibre of the award winners voted for by thousands of people highlights the contribution that ethnically diverse sportspeople are making to the world of sport.

Arun continued; “These awards have helped drive our new Future Champions programme which helps rising stars with the support, education and mentoring they need to succeed. By working closely with community projects and professional sports clubs, we will continue to increase diversity in sport and drive participation rates.”

 

QPR Talent ID

Sporting Equals has substantial experience of setting up and running talent identification schemes in different sports, designed to bring youngsters and their local teams to the attention of mainstream clubs. The organisation worked with QPR to build their connections with local communities, through a talent ID programme targeted at minority ethnic groups.  

The process  

The SE talent id programme included three open development sessions with a final invite only session on Wednesday 25th August, and was heralded as huge success by QPR, staff and coaches of QPR's Centre of Excellence training academy and the club's Community Trust impressed by the management and results of the Sporting Equals programme.

The results

The talent id scheme run engaged over 120 young boys aged 8-12 across the sessions including representation from all sectors of the local community turned up through youngsters from Indian, Pakistani, white, African, Caribbean and Arabic families. Parents and families stayed to support their kids throughout the day, which included individual coaching tips, small side matches and skills sessions.

QPR's Youth Development Manager, Steve Gallen, said:

'The programme has been an absolutely fantastic success. We identified nineteen boys that I have invited back to train within our Centre of Excellence for a six week period. The idea was to give everyone a chance to shine across three development days, so that it wasn't all or nothing on one day and I think everyone from the club, parents and most importantly the young boys benefitted'.