Leeds Rhinos Foundation

What they do

The Leeds Rhinos Foundation runs prison-based programmes that blend sports-related activities with personal development to prepare offenders for reintegration into society and reduce the likelihood of them reoffending.

Why they contacted the Alliance of Sport

The Alliance of Sport visited the Foundation as we compiled ‘best practice’ case studies for inclusion in the Ministry of Justice’s A Sporting Chance: Review of Sport in Adult and Youth Prisons, published in August 2018. We observed the project in action at HMP Leeds and HMP Wealstun as staff used sport, team-building and classroom activities to build participants’ confidence and personal qualities and ready them for release and potential future employment.

What we did to help

As well as profiling the Foundation’s innovative ‘Onside’ project as an example of best practice within the sport and criminal justice sector, we also showcased their follow-up project, ‘Tackle It’, which focused on the perpetrators and victims of domestic abuse. We promoted the Foundation’s work externally as part of UK Coaching’s ‘Coaching Week’ and gave Project Tutor, Janet Sylvester, the opportunity to share her experiences of running prison-based sport programmes by collaborating on an expert’s blog.

Our impact

Janet (left) commented: “The Alliance of Sport have been invaluable to us on so many levels both with support and showcasing the work we do within the criminal justice sector. Recently they gave us an opportunity to share best practice, demonstrate how we have learnt from setbacks we’ve faced and adapted our delivery accordingly.

“They share the same passion and drive as the Leeds Rhinos Foundation to use the power of sport to support individuals on their journey of change and reduce reoffending. They have been a valuable source in linking us up with others to form further partnerships and strengthen our work.”

For more information on Leeds Rhinos Foundation’s work visit the official website.