Partners for Wildcubs

Wapping’s youngest volleyball players have teamed up with Newark Youth Trust to make free open community sports sessions easier to organise. The trust is a registered charity working in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets since 1984 to develop the skills, capabilities and capabilities of young people to enable them to participate in society as independent, mature and responsible citizens through programmes of leisure, sports, social activities and informal learning*. A junior community volleyball club for children of all ages in Wapping and the Isle of Dogs, Wapping Wildcats seems a perfect partner,

The partnership means that the club can expand its work for the communities in Wapping and the surrounding area. In particular, sessions will be held as follows: 

Venue: John Orwell Sports Centre, a GLL BETTER facility

Time: 16:00-18:00 on Thursdays throughout the year with breaks during the holidays Welcome: players from the ages of 11-19.

Elsa Meserlian told the LVA,”Via our ethos to ensure that sport remains inclusive to all those who wish to participate, we continue to look for opportunities to facilitate affordable sports programs for children with all ambitions and see this partnership as one of many we hope to establish. Club co-founder Emanuela Lins who initiated this project says, ‘This is what we wanted from the beginning, a place for the kids to walk over to and play sports in the area to build the local community bond we had as children playing in the park with our friends. Living in London it’s not as easy to have this kind of availability and we end up having the kids stuck in the flat playing on the ipads’.

“Our club is a not for profit community sport organisation and caters for players from all different cultures, religions and social backgrounds. The club was one of the first of its kind in the UK, offering a mini-volley program which accepts children as young as 6 years old to set the physical foundations for volleyball by focusing on coordination, movement, technique and the fundamental skills. Earlier in the year, with the support of the Volleyball England Foundation, the club was awarded return to play funding from Sport England to operate in a post-pandemic world.”

*Trust website