News

inspiresport recently sponsored the WSFA National Boys’ Semi Final at Llanrumney playing fields in Cardiff. As the official travel partner of Welsh Schools’ Football Association (WSFA), we were excited by the opportunity to sponsor one of the biggest annual events within youth football, creating awareness of our youth football development programmes across many counties throughout Wales.

3 Cardiff School teams competed across the different age groups, with the Cardiff U14s team advancing through to the final, which is taking place this weekend in Oswestry. Other Welsh teams performed very well, with Newport U12s, Wrexham U12s, Conwy U13s, Ceredigion U13s, Swansea U14s, RCT U14s, Swansea U15s and Bridgend U15s all advancing to this Saturday’s final.

The event was a huge success with a very good turnout, and showcased the best of breed of Welsh youth footballers from U12s to U15s, all in one location. The excellent event was attended by the Chief Executive of WSFA, Kieth Jones, along with various scouts from Cardiff City FC and the Gwent County Team. Tom Shorey, inspiresport’s managing director, attended the semi-finals with Hywel Lougher, our Youth Development Director for Wales and the South West.

Matthew Davies, head coach of Cardiff and Vale Schools, is travelling with inspiresport on a Valencia CF football tour next April. He’s taking the entire squad of 22 Under 15s from the Cardiff Schools, some of whom play for Manchester Utd, Swansea, Bristol City and Wolves youth teams. Hywel Lougher, who worked with Matthew Davies to organise the development trip, had this to say:

“The performance of this team illustrates the strong level of football at a youth level in Wales, and how well it’s developing. It is easy to see how Welsh football is improving very rapidly, and hopefully within 10 years we’ll be a competing force in world football.”

This highly elite team will experience a comprehensive football tour to Valencia, which will see them compete in 3 high quality matches with youth academy teams from Valencia, Levante and Hercules (subject to schedule). In addition to this, the team will receive three coaching sessions from the full time academy coaches at Valencia CF, focussing on developing all aspects of play.

inspiresport will be making use of the Llanrumney playing fields for our upcoming Valencia Roadshow in September 2012, where we’ll be bringing the Valencia Foundation academy coaches over to provide training and development to top players and coaches from some of the UK’s leading schools. We are excited to be bringing them to one of the best venues the city has to offer, and one that is being showcased as an official London 2012 training venue, with teams from around the world using the site for final preparations in the preliminary rounds of the Olympic football tournament.

More details on this Valencia Roadshow initiative will be available shortly.

Another Easter holiday period has come and gone, and it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief here at inspiresport HQ. Easter is one of the busiest times of the year for inspiresport, and the past three weeks have seen us take 50 schools and clubs on the sports tour of a lifetime. That’s over 1300 pupils and 176 members of staff. Not that we’re counting.

For group leaders, departure day is the culmination of months of hard work – gauging interest from pupils, deciding which of our fantastic destinations to choose, chasing travelling pupils for their all important passport information, and ensuring nobody forgets their boots! Thankfully we aim to make it as easy as possible by being there every step of the way, providing all of the necessary paperwork and helping out with all of the big decisions.

The weeks before departure are also a stressful time for the inspiresport Operations Department. It’s up to them to ensure that each and every group has a jam-packed itinerary, knows what they’re doing, gets on their flight / coach / ferry on time, and most importantly, arrives safely at our top class clubs. Thankfully, decades of experience in the industry means that our team has this down to a tee. Ceri, Ryan, Gwen, Juan, Jed, Tom and everyone else involved worked their socks off over the past couple of months to ensure that everything was in place and that every group was prepared for their once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“Living the Dream”

As always, our groups had a fantastic time. Whether they stayed in the UK for a match weekend experience at Bolton Wanderers, Fulham or Sunderland, or travelled further afield to our top European destinations such as Valencia, Malaga, Ajax and Feyenoord, we received a plethora of excellent feedback. Here are some of the highlights:

“We thought it was going to be good but it surpassed our expectations. The boys were “living the dream” for a few days. The whole package was brilliant.”
Tenby AFC, Villarreal

“What a fantastic trip! Our kids loved every minute of the experience. The inspire staff were helpful and friendly, the hotel was one of the best we have stayed in, and all coaches at Ajax were fantastic. The kids learnt a lot in a small time and were in awe of the coaches.”
Kettlethorpe, Ajax Amsterdam

“Our rep was very professional, very organised, with great people skills. Our pupils thought he was great. An asset to your company.”
St Peter the Apostle School, Valencia

“Enjoyable training sessions at a top facility, great experience of a premiership fixture and an interesting tour of a Premier League football stadium. The coaching staff were very professional and the sessions appropriate for our team’s level. We will certainly be using inspiresport in the future.”
Roundhay School, Bolton Wanderers

More comments from group leaders can be found on our Testimonials page.

An Unforgettable Experience

For many groups, the trip’s legacy doesn’t end once their return coach pulls up outside the school. Some groups put together videos showcasing the numerous highlights of their trip and ensuring the memories are never forgotten. This great video is from Tenby AFC, who travelled to Villarreal on a 4-day tour organised by group leader Angie.

The group were keen to spread the word on their inspiring sports tour experience, and received a write-up of their match report in the Tenby Observer and on the Pembrokeshire Sport website. Hats off to the group for

Disaster Averted

A busy period wouldn’t be the same without the odd disruption. Two years ago saw chaos descend across the world of aviation as the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland, shutting down UK airspace and leaving us with a whole host of inspiresport groups to get home by other means. Thankfully this year’s disruption was on a much smaller scale.

French air traffic controller strikes caused a number of severe delays and the odd cancelled flight, resulting in a couple of very late nights for the Operations team as they rushed into action to organise new flights and an extra night’s accommodation. We even had to rush a number of pupils home the same day to ensure they were back in time to jet off on a second holiday – it’s alright for some! Thanks to all groups involved for staying patient as our team sorted everything out – you’ll be pleased to know everyone got back safely the following day.

Meeting the Stars

While we can never guarantee that our groups will get to meet the first team players, many groups get to do exactly that! Community School of Aucterarder, who travelled on a Valencia football tour in March, got to meet a number of the first team as they left the training ground on Monday morning.

The group leader had this to say:

“The access to the first team at Valencia CF is incredible and is one of the main reasons that we wanted to return there because we had a similar experience on a previous trip. Watching a match at the glorious Mestalla Stadium in the evening sun was also a real highlight.”

We’re so glad that so many of our groups had such an excellent time on their sports tours – whether they went on a football tour, rugby tour, netball tour or hockey tour, the pupils came back with lifelong memories and renewed friendships, as well as an all important improved skill set to help take their school or club team from strength to strength.

If your school or club team is interested in a professional sports development tour to one of the world’s top sporting teams, then we welcome you to explore our wide range of tours and get in touch. One of our trained youth development directors will be happy to help out and work with you to ensure your team experiences the greatest, most educational and most breathtaking school sports tour possible.

Following the recent announcement of the official partnership with Premiership Rugby, inspiresport are delighted to announce the renewal of its exclusive partnership with the English Schools’ Football Association. The continuation of this long standing partnership is testament to the overall quality of the football development programmes delivered by inspiresport in partnership with the professional clubs and national federations across the world. Last year over 5000 students from schools across the UK travelled with inspiresport to ‘live the dream’ of playing and training at some of the world’s best sporting destinations.

inspiresport Managing Director Tom Shorey with the English Schools U18 Representative Team

The new deal was formally announced at the annual ESFA International Dinner at Lilleshall prior to the departure of the England Schools Representative Team to Spain with inspiresport on their pre-international training camp at the Albir Garden Resort in Alicante.

As well as warm weather training at superb facilities, the England Team will play Valencia CF’s Academy team in a top level match on Thursday 16th February 2012. This is the 8th year that we have been entrusted by ESFA to host the U18 pre-international training camp, delivering the squad with exceptional high quality training venues, challenging fixtures and great team building experiences.

Albir Garden Resort, Alicante – Home of the Newly Launched Spanish FA Programme in Southern Spain

The Albir Garden Resort, the new location of choice for the English Schools’ representative team and the Spanish FA Training Camps, is a fantastic new football development tour destination just launched by inspiresport.

Professional training is provided by coaches from the Spanish Football Association, meaning school and club football teams of all ages and abilities can learn the same techniques that took the Spanish national team to success on the world stage at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Our great new Albir Garden Resort training pitch

As with all of inspiresport’s professional sports tours, packages are tailored to your group’s every need, with training sessions focussing on the aspects deemed most valuable for your group. A typical package will contain 6 training sessions from top Spanish FA coaches, accommodation in the high quality 4* hotel at Albir Garden Resort, a Spanish FA ADIDAS training kit, and a competitive fixture per squad against a similar standard local opposition. More information on this exciting new destination can be found on the Spanish FA at Albir Garden Resort page, or by calling (029) 2039 0747.

The inspiresport team collectively holds decades of experience in the world of school sports travel, with staff from a wide range of backgrounds. However, our team is about to get significantly stronger with the recruitment of a number of the top names in sports travel.

Joining our existing talented team of Youth Development Directors, who travel the country promoting the benefits of our educational sports development tours to top schools and clubs, are four of the most experienced names in the industry, bringing a wealth of knowledge and bundles of passion and enthusiasm.

Ian Baker, an enthusiastic sports fan, was once an aspiring player in the Liverpool Academy. Joining inspiresport from Thomas Cook, Ian has worked in the travel industry for most of his career and has an innate knowledge and understanding for how sports tours can help a young person develop a variety of key life skills. Ian joins us as Youth Development Director for North Wales and the North West.

Phil Edwards has worked in the industry ever since graduation, and after a successful period at Burleigh Travel, established a niche School Sports Travel business in Cheltenham which 16 months ago was merged into Gullivers Sports Travel. He brings with him a tremendous amount of experience across all aspects of the school sports travel market. Phil joins us as Youth Development Director for the North Central region of the UK.

Jonathan Young, our new Youth Development Director for the Midlands, has worked for over 6 years at Gullivers Sports Travel and in that time has been responsible for selling most types of sports tours to destinations across the world. An active player in his local football team, Jonathan’s passion for the sport is clearly evident, and he will play a key part in ensuring that schools get the most out of the opportunities offered by our unique educational sporting experiences.

Tristan Lewis will work as a Youth Development Ambassador for the Home Counties, introducing the concept of inspiresport development tours to schools and academies in the London area. Tristan has had a busy career – after working for 7 years as an Academy Coach at Reading Football Club, working alongside coaches/managers including Alan Pardew, Brendon Rodgers & Steve Coppell, he is currently the head coach and Director of a scholarship programme at the John Madejski Academy. If this isn’t enough, Tristan is the 1st team coach at Eton College, where he has overseen a number of international football tours. and was appointed Assistant Manager of Hayes and Yeading United in the 2011/12 season.

The above individuals bring considerable knowledge and experience in specialist school sports travel as well as sports development and are all very passionate about sport and the benefits that development experiences can have on young people. With their help, combined with the wealth of experience held by our existing team, we look forward to taking the business from strength to strength over the years to come.

inspiresport has received a positive write-up in the South Wales Echo, the leading daily newspaper for Cardiff and the South Wales valleys. The article, published this Thursday in the newspaper and online, praises the range of popular sports development tours offered by inspiresport, and details our exclusive agreements with the top sports federations and professional clubs in Britain and beyond.

Sports tours such as those offered by inspiresport have risen in popularity in recent years, partly down to government supported initiatives. As the article discusses, these initiatives have encouraged more groups to book onto our professional coaching tours, which open young minds to new ideas and provide real opportunities to practice new skills, whilst allowing players to move outside of their confort zone and build their confidence levels.

Initiatives such as those aimed at tackling obesity and challenging school attendance levels have resulted in sports tours rising in popularity, as they offer an experience beyond that which can be offered in the classroom. inspiresport’s Managing Director Tom Shorey, who was interviewed for the article, describes how although “it is possible to learn some basic concepts of physical education in class, there is no substitute for real experience in the wider world.”

inspiresport has a wide range of tours available across some of the UK’s most popular sports. A product that has seen a marked rise in popularity in recent years is our range of netball tours to top European clubs. Ysgol Uwchradd Caereinion recently took a group of 24 pupils to Marbella, and their positive experiences are detailed in the article. Teacher and group leader Sian Harries describes how “The trip gave our students a real opportunity to test out their sporting skills, develop their confidence and, in some cases, establish a passion which will remain for years to come.” The school enjoyed their trip so much that they have already booked a similar number of pupils on one of our exclusive football tours this summer.

The article can be read in full at http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/columnists/2012/02/02/sporting-initiative-inspires-students-91466-30247547/ or, if you’re a South Wales resident, you can pick up a copy from any good newsagent.

Here at inspiresport we work hard to put together tours to some of the world’s greatest clubs, giving young players unrivalled access to the same top coaches who’ve trained some of sport’s biggest names. As such, it’s always great to receive praise for our sports tours, both from the groups themselves and in the press.

We are always working to enhance our product offerings and ensure that the next generation of sports stars receive the best opportunities possible, and look forward to announcing a new range of products in the coming weeks and months.

inspiresport are proud to announce the launch of our new football development tour to Tenerife. This football tour allows school and club teams to receive training masterclasses from ex-professional Spanish La Liga players at a great location.

Your school or club team will receive high quality professional training from some of Spain’s finest footballing stars on all aspects of play, all hosted at the state of the art Tenerife T3 training facility. The Canary Islands’ great climate make this the perfect warm weather training facility all year round!

With training sessions provided by ex-professional players, you can be sure that your team will receive the highest level of coaching possible, at a destination that’s easily accessible from a wide range of UK airports. As with all of inspiresport’s football tours, our coaching sessions are tailor made to your team’s requirements, so the coaches will ensure that training is focussed on the elements you believe are the most important.

Groups will stay at the 3*** Aparthotel Jardín Caleta, located beside “La Enramada” beach and near “Playa del Duque” beach and only 200 metres from the training facility. The is located next to the hotel and 19 km from South Tenerife airport. Rooming is based on triple occupancy. All rooms have private facilities, air conditioning, safe, TV and hair dryer. The hotel also features a TV room, swimming pool, Ping-Pong and 24 hour reception.

This new product complements our existing range of school and club football tour products, with the great location and training provided by ex-professional La Liga players giving the product an added edge. With prices from just £695 per person, we’re confident this product will sell out for 2012 and 2013 school breaks, so reserve your school football team or youth football club a place now and ensure you don’t miss out.

For more information on this great new warm-weather training destination, click here.

We are very proud of our associations with some of the biggest names in the world of football. Now, with our official partnership with the Premiership Rugby Academy, inspiresport can now provide school and club teams the chance to train with the coaches from some of the biggest names in world rugby.

12 teams from Aviva Premiership Rugby’s past and present line-up have opened their doors to allow budding rugby players to receive in-depth training on all aspects of play from the teams’ full time coaches at their professional training grounds, meet and interact with some of the world’s biggest players, and witness the excitement of an Aviva Premiership Rugby match.

The programmes will include skill development, tactical awareness, game management, strength and conditioning help and advice from club physios and nutrition coaches about diet, recovery and rehab.

Another exciting part of the package will see youngsters getting the opportunity to attend an Aviva Premiership match and the chance to mix with players and coaches.

The development camps will run in partnership with 12 past or present Premiership clubs – Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester Rugby, Harlequins, Leeds Carnegie, Leicester Tigers, London Irish, London Wasps, Newcastle Falcons, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks, Saracens, and Worcester Warriors. Wayne Morris, Head of Community for Premiership Rugby said: “We are pleased to be working in partnership with inspiresport to provide this fantastic opportunity for young people. It will allow them to get to learn more about our sport, pick up new skills and grow in confidence.

“We share the same ethos as inspiresport and are passionate about developing the grassroots of the game and unearthing the next generation of rugby stars, as well as inspiring young people to take up the sport.”

Tom Shorey, Managing Director of inspiresport, said: “The Aviva Premiership has established itself as the best domestic club competition in the world and contains some of the biggest names in the game. Through this new partnership we will be offering a professional level of residential development programmes and an opportunity for young players, youth coaches and teaching staff to learn from the best.

“This is the first time the Premiership Rugby clubs have opened their doors to provide this opportunity for groups and we are delighted to become their official partner chosen to deliver these experiences in collaboration with the clubs. The packages are much more than rugby tours – they are education and development experiences that take a serious approach to improving the skills of young players.

“We are delighted to be operating these unique experiences on behalf of Premiership Rugby and are proud to be a part of something that aims to improve the standard of rugby across a broad spectrum of ages and abilities.”

For more information on this brand new product, click here.

Like so many others in the world of sport and beyond, the inspiresport team are deeply saddened by the recent passing of Gary Speed. He was inspiring to so many young football players and fans alike. Our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends.

Dyke House School from Cleveland recently took the school football tour of a lifetime to Villarreal CF, Spain. The school’s football squad received professional training from the club’s top coaches, played competitive matches against local opposition and even found time to appear on Spanish television before Villarreal’s match against Levante CF. The team had such a great time that they put together a trip video to show off their experiences to parents and the rest of the school.

If you’re interested in a school sports tour with a difference, it’s a great video to watch.

If your school or club team is interested in a sports tour to Villarreal or any of our other top UK, European or worldwide destinations, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Either fill in your details on our website or email info@inspiresport.com and we’ll put together a tailored quote to match your team’s requirements.

inspiresport Managing Director Tom Shorey

A collection of Welsh entrepreneurs renowned within the travel industry have joined forces to provide inspiresport with a fresh investment package which will see the organisation undertake a strategic development programme. inspiresport organise coaching trips for schools and sports clubs, and since our launch in 2004, have taken more than 30,000 youngsters to training camps across the UK and Europe, in partnership with some of the biggest clubs in the world of sport.

A total of £340,000 will be injected into the company from existing investors Finance Wales, Tom Shorey and Kevin Johnson, and a team of highly experienced travel industry professionals. These include Simon Powell, Ex CEO of Cwmbran-based travel booking software specialists COMTEC and ex-Comtec Finance Director, Matt Wakerley who introduced the opportunity to fellow investors. Additional investors include Welsh-speaking Richard Calvert; Thomas Cook UK Managing Director of Tour Operations; and Cardiff-born Jonathan Baldwin, a civil aviation specialist, now based in Washington, USA, who is a keen Cardiff City supporter and season ticket holder.

All four have acknowledged the great potential of the sports travel firm and will work closely with existing investors to both maintain inspiresport’s position as an industry leader within the school sports travel marketplace, and to explore new opportunities for growth and development within this niche sector.

inspiresport is a full ATOL holder and is the only one of its kind to be endorsed by national governing bodies for state and independent schools sports tours for football in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, representing the interests of over 17,000 schools.

Managing Director of inspiresport, Tom Shorey, said:

“We have a proven track record in the field of sport travel and the business is currently exceeding targets. Total customers in 2011 are approximately 14% up on 2010 and whilst we work with almost 400 schools across the UK, 70% of our business is repeat customers returning annually so there is significant growth potential and certainly scope for expansion into new areas.

“For the company to achieve its true potential I needed to introduce some travel industry knowledge and experience to the team. I feel this key building block for the business in now in place and combined with the sports marketing knowledge of existing senior management the Cardiff-based company has the perfect opportunity to become a major force within the UK sports travel market.”

Welsh-born Simon Powell, part of the new investment consortium, who will act as non-executive chairman, said:

“I am pleased to be investing in inspiresport and am very much looking forward to working with the team of professionals who run the operation. The heart of this business lies in delivering unique experiences to young people and motivating them to learn new skills in a multitude of sports.

“We have already identified a number of opportunities to build and expand upon the significant success of this tailored service and will be looking in detail at processes, IT systems, distribution channels and sales opportunities to ensure that the knowledge and experience of the management team are fully utilised and that the customer experience is continually improved. It is great to be part of a Welsh investment consortium supporting a successful Welsh business and helping it flourish even further.”

For further information please contact:
Rob Petersen, Managing Director, Petersens on rob@petersensone.com or 02920549597
Louise Yau, Account Manager, Petersens on louise@petersensone.com

Notes to Editors:

• inspiresport works with groups to tailor individual sport development programmes, including travel and accommodation at key sporting clubs and destinations.
• The company also provides sports development programmes for rugby, hockey, netball and lacrosse.
• Around 80% of the company’s customers are state schools, with the remainder independent.
• inspiresport prides itself on providing Groups of Young People with an unrivalled ‘Once in a Lifetime’ Team Sports Development Experience
• inspiresport also specialises in marketing, selling and operating specialist team sports development programmes for the education sector at many of the top football and rugby clubs in the world through niche vacation based training programmes which are operated by recognised sporting institutions or ‘destination resorts’.
• From its formation in 2004, the Company has taken a clear lead in this new industry segment within the school sports travel marketplace.
• The specialist product line developed by the Company for the UK educational sector is now accepted and inspiresport believes firmly that the overall market potential is much greater than first anticipated and it offers significant growth and upside potential.
• The Company has grown swiftly, creating an enviable reputation for quality and reliability as the market leading brand.