The focus of Sporting Forces activities is to support the military personnel and their immediate families through transition. The first step is to reduce their social isolation and loneliness whilst improving their physical wellbeing. Social Interaction is very important to the veterans who feel marginalised and outside of the community that they now live in. Sport and exercise are so important to the armed forces, they miss this when they leave the services. They miss the camaraderie and being part of a team. So many report that the loneliness cripples them, that they become withdrawn and this then leads to poor mental health with anxiety and depression. We also offer a route into civilian employment within the professional sports industry, we provide education, exercise, and social events to help veterans and their families by relieving mental health and social isolation. Promoting inclusion and togetherness, we can also adapt all opportunities to the needs of disabled veterans.
The charity has been developing a wider well-being programme and offering more opportunities for veterans and their families to engage in outdoor adventure alongside sport participation.
Launched in May 2021 the #SportingWarrior programme for veterans alongside the Dandelion Forces Families Project for Veterans Families.
Sporting Force is now the Portfolio Lead for the AFCT North East and Yorkshire. Under the Veterans Places, Pathways and People Programme we support 9 projects across the region. Embedding Welfare Officers and Coaches into military charities and CIC's. This has enabled the charity to create a 360 service and referral point for Veterans from across the North East,Yorkshire and Cumbria.
The majority of our beneficiaries are aged 19 to 59 years old and still have a working life stretching ahead of them. Once they feel more resilient, they have increased confidence and self-esteem they are then ready to look for employment.
When the veterans are ready, our charity can then support them to gain qualifications and to fill any skills gaps. We work with them so that they appreciate their transferable skills gained from their service such as communication skills, problem solving, delivering to deadlines, meeting expectations, leadership skills, analytical skills, technical and organisational skills. We work with employers in the sports industry ensuring that the qualifications we deliver are relevant and of the highest quality. Employers see the business sense in employing veterans as they have integrity, self-discipline, they are punctual, reliable, resourceful and mission oriented with a can-do attitude.
Our national footprint is in professional sports clubs across the UK , supporting veterans into training, employment or long term volunteering at Premiership to grass roots football clubs, professional rugby and cricket clubs.
