Sports education startup scores £75,000 funding boost
Sporting Age, the Huddersfield-based sports education company, has secured a £75,000 funding boost that will help grow its reach across the region.
The five-figure funding package has been delivered from the £3m social investment loan fund, Sporting Capital.
The fund, formed by sport-for-social-impact advisor, Sporting Assets, and Access: the Foundation for Social Investment, aims to close the gap between charities and social enterprises
Shaun Fox, founder and director at Sporting Age, said: “This investment will kick-start the second stage of business growth for Sporting Age, following the launch of our platform and campaign last October to help primary schools tackle obesity among pupils by increasing their levels of participation in physical activity.”
Jonny Nolan, co-director, added: “The funding boost will ultimately help us take the business to the next level, and we hope to eventually create further job opportunities as Sporting Age grows across Yorkshire and the wider UK.
“When young people start primary school aged four or five, twenty per cent of are classed as overweight or obese. By the time they leave primary school age 11, this figure rises to thirty five percent.
“Sporting Age helps schools and teachers tackle obesity and encourage participation in physical activity by using data from a series of pupil benchmarking tests to produce stage-appropriate PE lesson plans that ensure schoolchildren are being taught at the correct level of ability in PE.”
Jemma Leathley, investment manager for Sporting Capital, added: “Sporting Capital is delighted to have made the investment into Sporting Age, a growing business, looking to have an impact on reducing childhood obesity. We are really looking forward to collaborating with community sports businesses across the country to help them to grow and develop with our investment.”
The Sporting Capital fund is backed by funding partners The Big Lottery Fund and Big Society Capital via the Access Foundation.
