We would like to raise £1000 to allow young fathers in West Cornwall to participate in challenging sporting events; we aim to encourage young men in a fathering role to use fitness to improve their physical and mental well-being and ensure that they remain a positive role model in the lives of their children and their families.

SPARC is a community interest company that provides opportunities for disadvantaged young people living in Cornwall to access sport, physical activity and sport- based educational programmes, amongst their peers and within in their community. For the last twelve months we have been facilitating a weekly sport and social group, which allows young fathers to play sport such as: football, cricket and badminton which are otherwise inaccessible for the young fathers due to a variety of factors such as cost, equipment, stigmatism and confidence levels. The activities are also a great opportunity for the dad’s to socialise and offer one another ‘peer mentoring’ support, which allows the young fathers to discuss a range of topics that support their development as a ‘dad.’

The money raised through this page will help us to continue to facilitate these groups and also enable the young Dad's to take part in, and enter mass participation events and adventurous activities in Cornwall such as ‘Tuff Enuff’ obstacle course race, Surfing lessons, charity fun runs and the Cornwall Beach games. These events will use sport to prove to individuals that they can achieve ambitious goals and improve their confidence, self- esteem, wellbeing and ability to work as a team.

The importance of the group and the activities to the young fathers we work with was expressed in this text we received after a session:

"the group helps me see I ain’t the only one going thru this struggle n hard times, good to chat, didn’t think it would benefit tbh but changed my thoughts just after one session, would love to come back next week."- Young Father from Penzance