Titans Community Foundation (TCF) are proud to announce a new sponsorship deal with local McDonalds franchise Ex Animo Foods Limited. The new deal will see the famous golden arches appear on the playing kit of Rotherham Titans for the 2019/2020 season as well as on the kit being worn by Titans players delivering lessons in local schools and colleges.
Long term Foundation sponsors Liberty Steel, Jenkinson Insurance, AES Seal and Nicholas Associates have also committed to another season with the Foundation.
Rotherham has one of the worst records in the UK for childhood obesity and adult heart disease. The Titans Community Foundation wants to help change this within our community and these sponsorship deals will help us to do that.
Our first project this year came about through a meeting with Amanda Grant, from Rotherham School Improvement Service, who co-ordinates the British Heart Foundation ‘Restart a Heart Day’ in Rotherham schools. In discussions with Amanda, she wanted to expand the day beyond the small number of schools she had worked with in 2018, and TCF offered players from our partner club, Rotherham Titans, as volunteers to widen the delivery on the day. We then discussed how TCF could take the initial programme forward, expanding what is offered to schools beyond the initial training session. The project is aimed at raising awareness of heart health, the choices children can make to improve their own health through diet and exercise, and the opportunities available in the community to live a healthier, more active life.
TCF will go into schools on October 16th 2019 as part of the British Heart Foundation ‘Restart a Heart Day’ to launch the programme, training as many primary children as we can in CPR during that one day. We will then continue this work in primary schools across Rotherham, for the rest of the academic year, with fitness and healthy eating programmes, using the Titans players as role models for a fit, active life through sport, exercise and diet. This will support the existing work of the School Nurses, another partner that TCF has been consulting with, who are fully engaged in working with us, and later in the year, developing holiday sports programmes for local children.
We have also included the managers of the local Leisure Centres in our discussions and, after the launch day, we will also be working with the local Leisure Centres. As well as offering fitness and skills sessions for young people, we will be providing a ‘Walking Rugby’ programme for adults, as a progression from the ‘Cardiac Rehab – Active for Health’ sessions already in place for people recovering from heart attacks and heart surgery. This can then lead into Touch Rugby sessions which already take place in Rotherham, based at Rotherham Rugby Club for anyone aged 16+. Again, the Leisure Centre management are working with us to co-ordinate and support the programmes we can offer.
The Titans Community Foundation already has good working relationships with many primary schools, especially through the Rugby Skills programme which we started last season. Over 1200 pupils took part in this over the 6 months it was running. In discussions with the RFU local co-ordinator last season, we decided to specifically target primary schools to focus on engaging girls in sport. We added over 80 girls participating in rugby to the junior sessions at local amateur clubs in that time, as well as seeing growing numbers of boys under 11 joining these sessions. The Rotherham amateur and mini-junior sides are working with TCF to market and promote this new programme to the wider community.
The Restart a Heart Programme and the additional offers will be rolled out to all the primary schools in Rotherham we have already worked with, and we will use our excellent links with the local press, the RFU, the Rotherham Schools Games co-ordinators and our social media profiles to widen the offer to as many schools and groups as possible. We already have expressions of interest from 25 schools subject to funding.
Franco Ventura, franchisee for five Rotherham McDonald’s restaurants said:
“I’m proud that my contribution to the Titans will help provide resources for the community foundation and help support young players. I hope to maintain a close relationship with the club and support them throughout their journey.
“It’s great that the Titans Community Foundation has a good relationship with local primary schools and I was impressed with their engagement with all genders and ages.
“I believe that the work they do through schools is vital and I am proud to be a part of that.”
Lindsay Jones, Chair of TCF said:
“It is great to have some loyal sponsors who provide funds for us to deliver these great sessions to local schools. It is always nice to welcome a new sponsor and we are very grateful to Franco and McDonalds for this funding. We are always looking to partner with new companies who share our vision for Rotherham children.”
If any other companies would like to sponsor Titans Community Foundation to help to deliver these sessions to even more schools then please contact John Whaling by sending an email to john.whaling@titans-rugby.com
