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Legacy of sport funds bodes well for Olympics

Kate Silvers
20/12/2005

ROCHDALE has contributed significantly to the sporting life of the country, winning Olympic medals and nurturing world-class talent.

As recently as 2002, the borough was actively involved as they hosted the Kenyan team for the Manchester Commonwealth Games and there is every opportunity for the area to once again host overseas teams when the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to the UK in 2012.

One of the stars who has brought medals back to Rochdale is judo player Sophie Cox, who won a bronze in Manchester, before qualifying for the 2004 Olympic team and following up with a silver medal at the 2004 European Championships.

Sophie said: "Sport in Rochdale has flourished over the past decade. I have benefited in particular from National Lottery funding and many other sports and clubs in the area have been boosted by awards."

One of these is Rochdale Judo Club, who recently received a National Lottery grant, through Sport England, of £270,000 to extend and improve the training area as they are hoping to produce future champions like Sophie.

Rochdale has also nurtured their share of talent in rowing.

'Project Oarsome' is a scheme set up to find the next Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent, where coaches visit schools and interest pupils in the sport by teaching basic techniques.

The National Lottery has invested in the scheme and the Hollingworth Rowing Club recently visited Hollingworth and Wardle High Schools to inspire youngsters to participate.

One of the success stories from the club is Craig Morgan, who recently won his first British Championship medal.

The former British junior track cyclist is now targeting international rowing glory.

He said: "I'm training every day with the aim of winning a GB vest, and it would be a dream to race in the Olympics, perhaps even in front of a British crowd in 2012."

The National Lottery has invested over £4.9m into sport in Rochdale over the past 11 years and clubs such as Hillside Rugby Club, Littleborough Hockey Club and Spotland Badminton Club have received funding to help improve facilities and purchase equipment.

Matthew Moss School had a boost to their sports facilities when the Big Lottery Fund invested £1.1m into building a four-court sports hall and changing facilities for pupils and members of the local community to use.

The borough council has also used a National Lottery grant of nearly £1.6m to build the Springhill Community Sports Hall, where netball, basketball, cricket and five-a-side football can be played, as well as housing a six-lane athletics track.

It's not just the large awards that make the difference though - Deeplish Community Primary School received a grant of just under £2,000 in 2001 to set up after-school rounders, while Rochdale Netball Club used an investment of just under £3,000 to encourage boys and children from ethnic minorities to participate in the sport.

Football in Rochdale is particularly popular and The National Lottery has helped the sport flourish. The Coca-Cola League Two team have had a great start to the new season and have benefited from grants over the past few years which has been invested in developing a multi-use games area and the creation of a youth football development programme.

There are currently talks for Great Britain to produce a team for the Olympic football tournament in 2012 which is a great incentive for any budding player to put a pair of boots on.

The National Lottery has shown its dedication to sport by announcing an investment of £1.5b towards staging the Games so when the opening ceremony starts in London in 2012 make sure you are watching as there is every chance that the athletes shining on the track, in the pool, on the field or on the court could hail from Rochdale.