Saracens Cheer & Dance have offered the opportunity for young people from all over the UK to join their exclusive virtual ‘Cheerleading’ and ‘TikTok’ classes free of charge to keep children from all walks of life active and upbeat during Lockdown 3.0.
Following the recent news of Lockdown, the coaches at the Saracens Foundation decided to offer their classes out to the community for free, and within a matter of days their first week of classes were fully booked with over 110 children signing up to virtual Cheer & Dance classes!
It’s undeniable that the past year has been a challenging time for all of us, but it’s been especially tough for young people who learn best through activity and social interaction. Following the high demand in classes over the first week it became apparent to the coaches at the Saracens Foundation that virtual activities are the best way for young people to engage in physical activity whilst also interacting with other children of a similar age in a safe way! It also gives children (and parents) something to look forward to in the week. Not only do children participating in classes get the opportunity to meet their friends and partake in activity virtually; an hour of activity also gives parents an hour of respite from home-schooling with the comfort of knowing their children are in the capable hands of qualified dance and cheer coaches.
Saracens Foundation has been running Cheer & Dance classes for over 10 years teaching young people a wide variety of different skills and routines in a safe and inclusive environment. For more information on our Cheer & Dance project visit https://www.saracenssportfoundation.org/our-programmes/get-moving/cheerleading/school-of-cheer/.
All classes were scheduled to return at the beginning of January however, due to lockdown the team had to quickly adapt to delivering their classes virtually on Zoom if they were to continue to make a positive impact on their students. With countless parents commenting on how much their children enjoyed their virtual classes and one parent expressing that her daughter ‘absolutely loved it’ and ‘cannot wait for next week’, it is great to see that the Saracens Foundation are able to continue to make a positive impact on young people virtually.
If you would like to sign up to any of our virtual classes please visit www.bookwhen.com/saracenscheeranddance or contact sapphirefinlayter-gaskell@saracens.net for more information.
While our virtual classes are a great opportunity for children to partake in free sessions, there are over a million young people nationally who do not have access to a device meaning not only can they not access opportunities such as this; they cannot access their online schooling. Saracens Foundation have launched a Digital Divide Campaign to provide devices for disadvantaged children. To see how you can help please visit: https://sfdigitaldivide.co.uk/
