Tameside children have been keeping active over the summer holidays thanks to Sports First Coaching.

Founded by New Mills FC player Joe Bevan, the company provide high quality sport provision to the children of Tameside, working closely with Greswell Primary School and Dane Bank.

During term time, the team work to offer physical education sessions to the pupils, however the fun doesn’t stop when the holidays arrive.

Greswell School is home to the successful summer camp, offering a multitude of sports to ensure all children are kept active.

“We run our holiday camps during every school holiday, but summer is always the busiest.

The Sports First Coaching team with professional freestyler Stephen Gray.

“We have a football course running this year which is one of the most popular in the area, we also have a multi-sport course which includes sports such as archery, basketball and other team building games,” Joe says.

This summer, the children have also been given the opportunity to meet some sporting heroes, with weekly special guests arriving to teach their skills.

Stephen Gray, a professional football freestyler and three times Guinness World Record holder is just one of the visitors who has attended the course to share his wisdom.

His session began with a question-and-answer activity for the children to find out all about his sport, before they were given the opportunity to sink their teeth into football freestyling by following their very own routine.

The opportunity to meet sporting success stories has been unmissable for the children of the sports camps, each of which have returned home with a plethora of new skills.

“It’s so important that children are active whilst they are off school. Children should be participating in at least one hour of intense physical activity per day, on our holiday camp we spend up to 5 hours doing this.

“Since the lockdowns, there has been a massive rise in obesity for children so it’s so important that they engage in activity.

“It’s also great for children’s mental and social wellbeing, making new friends is a massive part of our camp. Children from schools across Tameside attend and there is no better way to socialise than playing sport,” Joe says.

The holiday camp is set to continue for another two weeks and has a whole host of treats in store for the children.

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