George Best Belfast City Airport has teamed up with Sullivan Upper School to deliver a community rugby programme to primary school children across East Belfast and North Down.
This community rugby programme, sponsored by the Airport’s Community Fund and delivered by coaches and senior players from Sullivan Upper’s 1st XV rugby team, aims to introduce both boys and girls, aged nine to 11 years old, to the sport for the first time and encourage them to embrace the spirit of team-based activities.
The programme will not only enable P6 and P7 pupils in the East Belfast and North Down catchment areas to try their hand at a new game but will also educate them on the importance of nutrition, communication, teamwork and cooperation.
More than 200 local children have participated in the community rugby programme in previous years and through this newly secured, three-year partnership with the Airport’s Community Fund, Sullivan Upper has aspirations of doubling those numbers by 2022, starting with the launch of this year’s programme in April 2020.
Speaking of the school’s community rugby programme, now in its third year, Headmaster at Sullivan Upper School, Mr C. Peel said:
“We are extremely proud of our successes in the field of rugby over the years and to be able to pass on our skills and passion for the sport to the younger generation is a wonderful honour.
“Partnering with George Best Belfast City Airport, an organisation which already gives so much back to the East Belfast community, will help us widen the reach and impact of our primary school rugby programme and provide real social and physical benefits to the children in the local area.”
Ian Nuttall from George Best Belfast City Airport said:
“With just 20% of primary school children in Northern Ireland reportedly getting the recommended daily amount of exercise, the importance of such initiatives is clear to see. That is what makes this rugby programme a perfect match for Belfast City Airport’s Community Fund which has been proudly supporting projects with physical and educational benefits now for over ten years.
“We are delighted that our Community Fund can support Sullivan Upper School in its aim to enrich the lives of young people in East Belfast and North Down through sport and look forward to watching the programme grow over the next three years.”
For more information on the Community Fund please visit: www.belfastcityairport.com/community