At Edge Hill University we work in partnership with Everton in the Community (EitC) with a shared aim to promote health and wellbeing to local communities, as well as conducting research. Our partnership with EitC enhances students’ experience by highlighting real-world applications of the kinds of sport-based health programmes provided in community settings and the context in which these programmes are delivered.
Read more about two recent examples of the collaborative real-world projects our students have worked on with EitC.
Students deepen their understanding of health-based programmes
Through our partnership with EitC, students are developing their understanding of how health-based programmes are delivered in communities. Linked with classroom teaching, students recently had the opportunity to gain real-world experience and focus on supporting the EitC programme that was of most interest to them, seeing and hearing first-hand from EitC about their experiences of monitoring, evaluating and learning from the existing programmes. It was an excellent opportunity in which to apply what has been taught in the classroom to active community programmes. Students who participated are studying a range of undergraduate sport and physical activity degrees but are all studying the third year module ‘managing health-based programmes in sport and physical activity’.
“One of the main reasons why we have this stream of work within our degree programme at Edge Hill is that the policy landscape is now that sport organisations need to be doing more than promoting sport, they need to be achieving social good through sport. Sport England’s remit covers physical and mental health and their Uniting the Movement strategy is a 10-year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity. Through our established partnership with Everton in the Community we can provide enrichment opportunities for our students to enhance their employability when they graduate.”
Dr David Haycock
Senior Lecturer in Sports Development and Management
Student Daniel Henderson engaged with the Stand Together programme. Stand Together is an opportunity for anyone over 65 to improve their quality of life by making new friends, having fun and enjoying a variety of activities together.
“It was so good to be able to visit Everton in the Community and see this project being delivered in real life. I carried out some monitoring and evaluation for EitC, interviewed participants and spoke to them about their experiences of this programme and how this has impacted on them. The experiences and skills I have learnt will support my future employment. It was so good being so close to a leading programme and working with EitC, it is a brilliant highlight of the course.
I really enjoyed getting involved and speaking to participants. I wanted to make a good impression and make people feel comfortable around me. The experience developed me as a person, working with vulnerable adults and adapting to different environments is important and a huge learning opportunity. These programmes make a huge difference to people’s lives and it was so good to be out in the community to see this first hand.”
Daniel Henderson
BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching
Both students Daisy and Charlotte visited the Blue Base Pantry. The pantry aims to reduce food poverty by providing communities access to a wide range of top-quality food in return of a small subscription fee in addition to key services to tackle financial hardship in all its forms and to serve the needs of the charity’s local residents.
“I would like to work for a community sports trust in the future and now I can add to my CV that I have worked on a real project with Everton in the Community and that I have helped them with their monitoring and evaluation. Working at the food panty definitely helped me build my confidence. I learnt how to monitor and evaluate things in real life and be a part of a successful project. I really enjoyed the experience.”
Charlotte Thornton
BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching
“The experience working at the pantry was so valuable. This is definitely a good thing to add to my CV and it has made me consider that I would like to do something with monitoring and evaluating of programmes in the future. Our group put a lot of time and effort into understanding this programme and provided feedback for EitC to support their funding bid. This module really helped with building my confidence. Going out and experiencing the EitC programme was brilliant, and I really enjoyed it.”
Daisy Wood
BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching
Student-led celebratory event to mark another year of delivery of Tackling the Blues
Students have recently organised an Olympic and Paralympic themed wellbeing event with partner schools across Merseyside to mark another year of successful delivery of the Everton in the Community Tackling the Blues programme. All schools attending on the day have been part of the Tackling the Blues programme this academic year and have hosted the programme’s weekly mental health and wellbeing sessions. Engaging with over 320 young people, schools had the opportunity to take part in a range of alternate sport, physical activities and art sessions.
The celebratory event was led and organised by Edge Hill third-year sport management students as part of their event management module. Students took responsibility for everything, including all the planning, communications and delivery. Overseen by Dr Laura Johnson a senior lecturer and supported by EitC staff.
“The event provided students with an invaluable opportunity to plan, co-ordinate and deliver a real-life event supported by Tackling the Blues and Everton in the Community staff, and it was great to see all their hard work coming together on the event day. On our CIMSPA endorsed sport management programme, we can teach students everything in the classroom and they need the underpinning knowledge but getting the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with real-life schools and partners with an actual event is invaluable. If students are going to be applying for jobs in this area, they have got real experience on their cv and can confidently say I have planned an event.”
Dr Laura Johnson
Senior Lecturer in Sport, Physical Activity and Health
“It’s important to learn the theory of event management and being able to back up what you are doing and decisions you are making. The skills I have learnt on this module have enabled me to position myself for future jobs. I have studied the theory, but now I have lots have real experience of running events and that will benefit me going for jobs in the future.”
Ben Titchener
BSc (Hons) Sport Management*
*The new version of this course for 2025 entry is BSc (Hons) Sports Business Management
“The event was an excellent example of how our longstanding partnership work with Everton in the Community and Tate Liverpool provides students with applied real-world experience of working with children, young people, and their schools to support mental health and promote physical activity.
Our partner schools provide much valued support, expertise and opportunities which enable students from the Department of Sport and Physical Activity and Faculty of Education to pursue diverse graduate-level careers in their areas of interest.
These types of real-life learning experiences are underpinned by the world leading impact of research undertaken by staff and demonstrate very powerfully the contribution our students make to the lives of others in our communities.”
Professor Andy Smith
Professor of Sport, Physical Activity and Mental Health
About Everton in the Community
Everton in the Community (EitC) is Everton Football Club’s official charity. Their aims are to use the power of sport to motivate, educate and inspire people in local communities to improve their life chances, physical health and mental wellbeing, through unique projects.
Edge Hill University is proud to work in partnership with EitC and we aim to promote health and wellbeing to local communities, as well as conducting research. We have partnered with Everton in the Community on three health related projects. ‘Active Blues’ and ‘Tackling the Blues’, as well as ‘The People’s Family Project’.
Find out more about our partnership with Everton in the Community
August 20, 2024
