IDEALS Ghana - Breaking new ground
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Edge Hill University student Danny Bacon running a daily training session
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UK Sport 15 August 2011
On 20 July four students from Edge Hill University returned to the UK after successfully completing the first International Development Through Excellence and Leadership in Sport (IDEALS) placement to Ghana, West Africa.
UK Sport and Ghana have an established relationship through the Beckwith Institute of Leadership Development (BILD) project which began in December 2009. BILD focuses on system development in Ghana which allows young people in schools, sports clubs and communities to develop their sports leadership skills through quality training and support. BILD is delivered through four Ghanaian Universities and the IDEALS students were hosted by University of Ghana for their placement. The students worked alongside BILD leaders for half of their placement and with BILD partner Right to Play for the remaining two weeks.
Charlotte Whiteside, Sarah Smith, Danny Bacon and Chloe Walker were exposed to the two extremes of Ghanaian life during the placement and overcame some significant challenges to end on a positive and reflective note. The most committed are set to return to Ghana in person or continue to support some of the organisations they had worked with.
The students also found themselves surprised by what they learnt, as demonstrated by Charlotte Whiteside when reflecting on her experience with Right to Play: “I learnt a lot and was quite shocked to realise just how familiar their foundation of work is to the Physical Education National Curriculum in England, strongly emphasising and encouraging a child’s holistic development as opposed to just focussing on the physical element.”
UK Sport would like to thank the University of Ghana, the BILD leaders, Edge Hill University and Right to Play for their support in making this placement possible. All parties are committed to sharing their experiences and building on them for the IDEALS Ghana programme in 2012.
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