England Athletics is one of five national governing bodies who have come together for the first time to support Greensville Trust, a grass roots educational charity that provides a range of sport, education and community development activities to faith-based communities across the UK.
To mark National Inclusion Week (23-29 September), England Athletics joined Swim England, British Equestrian Federation, British Wrestling and Archery GB to announce a collaboration which will see them come together as ‘Sunnah Sports’. Sunnah refer to those sports that are intrinsically part of the Muslim faith and named in prophetic texts; they include archery, horse riding, wrestling, swimming and running.
At a recent inaugural pilot weekend, England Athletics’ representatives included Programme Participation Manager Tracey Francis, RunTogether Support Officer Stuart Bryce, and Sahar Ijaz – a qualified Run Leader from Together we are Runners; a Muslim women’s RunTogether Group set up a few years ago with support from England Athletics.
Together we are Runners is a Bradford-based RunTogether group so it was the perfect opportunity to attend the pilot weekend retreat at the charity’s hub in Bradford with the other sports. They led the runs around a small circuit, and used the event to also inform and recruit local women into their running group. The weekend provided an opportunity to share insight, knowledge and experience in tackling inequalities and barriers to participating in their sports for Muslim communities.
Members of the England Athletics funetics delivery team also hosted our funetics programme which involved an athletic activation zone, plus run, jump and throw.
Tracey Francis explained that England Athletics are eager to showcase how both funetics and RunTogether align seamlessly with the priorities of Sunnah Sports.
“Our goal is not only to develop a new generation of athletes but also to build a workforce that authentically represents faith communities.
This workforce will take their knowledge back to their communities, establishing their own RunTogether groups or funetics satellite centres. Both programmes are flexible, requiring no formal facilities for delivery, making them easily adaptable to local community settings.”
Amer Siddiq, Chairman of Greensville Trust, explains why the partnership is so important:
“Our goal is not only to promote physical wellbeing but also to provide an opportunity for participants in under-represented groups to explore pathways into coaching, club management, and other career opportunities in sports.”
Over the coming months there will also be opportunities for people development as part of the partnership through community engagement roles, coaching, mentors and volunteers.