Last Friday 20th January Bristol Rovers Community Trust hosted our local round of the EFL Kids Cup. This is where a variety of schools entered in hope to progress to the Area Finals and represent Bristol Rovers. The competition had representatives from 7 local primary schools who competed in a round robin tournament to decide would represent Bristol Rovers Community Trust in the next round of the competition. The competing schools were St Bonaventure’s, Elmlea Junior, Horfield C of E, Westbury Park, Mangotsfield, Glenfrome and Cheddar Grove.
All teams put in a great showing and represented their schools fantastically well. St Bonaventures’s Catholic Primary School were our victors and rightly earned their place at the Area Finals which will be held in the near future.
The tournament was organised by the Community Trust’s 1st year degree students and was part of their professional development that they gain as part of their course. Under the supervision of Matt Bennett, Community Manager, the team of students put on a great event for all involved. ‘Josh Skuse and George Carter who lead on the project did a super job along with their fellow students and should be very proud of their efforts. This is a perfect opportunity to put into practice what they learn in the classroom and apply it in a real life situation. This will stand them in good stead to lead on other projects in the future. It’s vital that our degree students gain practical experience which will benefit them when they are out in the working world. They have had to communicate with schools to participate, organise a venue, arrange a fixture list, ref the games, liaise with our media department for media coverage and many other aspects of putting on a tournament such as this.
Jamie Lucas and Dominic Thomas were on hand to help present the certificates and winners pendants to the participants and were kept busy signing autographs and taking pictures with the players. They were very impressed with the efforts of the players on show and their enthusiasm for the game.
Matt Bennett went on to say that ‘having two of our young professionals down at an event like this really shows the level of commitment and support the club offers towards its community projects. The kids playing in the tournament were so excited to meet them and they were great taking time to pose for photos and sign autographs. This will be something that the kids go home and tell all their family and friends about and a day that they will never forget. That is the real strength our community department that we can take events like these and make them an extra special day for all involved.’
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