On Friday 11 April, eight teams
battled it out in our annual ReachOut Cup football tournament fundraiser,
raising over £4,000 for our mentoring projects in Hackney, Camden and Tower
Hamlets.
A group of ReachOut mentees spent
two days preparing the tournament, working closely with our team in London to
make sure that everything from trophies and equipment to refreshments and
tournament rules were sorted. They also took the lead in running the event,
gaining vital communication and teamwork skills by meeting and greeting teams,
keeping track of scores and conducting an official presentation ceremony at the
end of the tournament.
“I felt very proud,” said
ReachOut mentee, Holly, who helped to organise the event.
In the week leading up to the
tournament, Holly and her friends scoured local supermarkets, asking for
donations of drinks and snacks for the footballers, and travelled to trophy
shops to purchase medals for the competitors. In the process, Holly and her
friends got plenty of practice at negotiating and bartering with retailers – a
useful skill for anyone of any age to develop!
Teams from Barclays, Bloomberg,
MetroBank and Shell made it through to the semis and, after a nail-biting
final, Bloomberg emerged victorious, beating newcomers, Barclays, to claim the
ReachOut Cup for the fifth year in a row – congratulations, Bloomberg!
Thank you to all who entered a
team (Bloomberg, Barclays, UBS, Macquarie, MetroBank, Shell and Oliver Wyman)
and Tesco and Sainsburys who donated refreshments.
Looking forward to seeing you all
next year!
Luke Ounsworth
London
