Foundation for Global Sports Development Launches Olympic Education Programme

The not-for-profit Foundation for Global Sports Development (GSD) has launched an Olympic education programme for school children that will reward those who excel with an experience of a lifetime during London 2012. The London Education and Arts Programme (LEAP), recognised by the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) as a part of its Inspire programme, consists of lesson plans and worksheets that encourage teachers and students to engage in discussions along seven values-based themes including sportsmanship, fair play and team work. After the dialogue, the students are encouraged to draft an essay, write a poem or create a drawing that expresses their perception of sport and its values.

Students aged 12-16 and enrolled in school in London can enter their artwork into a competition to join other GSD-sponsored young people from the United States and Canada in a mentorship programme that will take place during the London 2012 Olympic Games. Participants will have the opportunity to learn life lessons from Olympic and Paralympic athletes, visit historic and cultural sites in London and attend events during the Games.

The teaching materials are available free for teachers and parents to download from http://www.globalsportsdevelopment.org/leap_landing.cfm. The deadline for competition entries to win in the mentorship program is 5 August 2011.

"GSD is committed to providing growth and opportunities to our youth through sport, particularly through the Olympic Values," said Dr. Steven Ungerleider, a founding member of GSD’s Board of Directors. "We are excited to be able to make the LEAP curriculum available free to schools in the UK and to offer a number of children the opportunity to be inspired by both yesterday’s heroes in the classroom and today’s on the field of play.

"Our mentorship programme has been gaining momentum over successive editions of the Games and we look forward to doing what we can to make the 2012 version a formative experience for the children who are chosen to participate. We are grateful to London 2012 for recognising our efforts and including them within the Inspire programme."

LEAP is the centrepiece of the 2012 version of GSD’s Culture, Education, Sports and Ethics Programme (CESEP). Over the years, the programme has reached children in more than 70 countries, and series of the CESEP artwork have been featured in two books published by GSD and have been displayed during both the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Plans are being readied for the artwork to be exhibited during the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

CESEP is one of several core programmes GSD operates. It also funds projects that further anti-doping education and funds sport development programs in the U.S. and across the world through partnerships with sport governing bodies. Recent contributions have funded the International Hockey Federation’s construction of the Hockey pitch as part of the IOC’s Sport for Hope camp in Zambia, a joint International Table Tennis Federation-Peace and Sport training programme in East Timor and the International Paralympic Committee’s first athlete and coaches training seminars in Latin America.

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