The community sports foundation CIC was set up with the aim to give home-schooled children the physical exercise and time outdoors that help people thrive, but it has now turned into something bigger.
Back in 2022 Rich Goulding worked with Gloucester Rugby but felt he wasn’t getting much out of it and wanted a change, having previously worked in education he was set to go back into primary schools and continue working there.
After discussing things with a friend, Rich saw a gap that needed to be filled to help families who were home schooling, “A friend of mine who is a home educator basically said to me that home educated children don’t have many activities so I set up a community sports foundation to primarily, at that stage, work with home educated children”
The sports foundation allows children to socialise with others, “They come along and they’re not really too sure as they haven’t made friends, but over the course of a few weeks, months, a year, they find a solid friend group and gain skills that will help them throughout life.”
The community sports foundation now run multisport sessions Monday to Thursday in different locations across Gloucester, they now do a lot of coaching sessions in the evenings and have their own football team.
Many parents see a change in their child after just a few sessions, “I’ve seen children come to sessions and seen them grow throughout the sessions, we see them progress from not wanting to join in to joining in every week.”
But running a sports foundation doesn’t come without challenges, “Sometimes we don’t have children turn up,
Again when we are outside the weather is another major factor, sometimes I’ve called sessions off because it’s been chucking it down and I don’t want the children to get wet.”
The activities on offer vary from week to week, allowing a lot more flexibility for people attending sessions or wanting to join as there is no set plan or skills they are missing out on.
Rich offered some advice to parents contemplating signing there children up, “Come along, have a look. We don’t push your child into joining in but if they want to they can.”
“Our philosophy is based on the play their way organisation. So, it gives the children a choice and a voice to make their own way through sport.”
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