Nanu Sports Foundation was firmly established in 2010 within Harehills and Bankside, deprived inner city areas of Leeds. We began as a voluntary grass-roots organisation, our primary purpose was to encourage children to EXERCISE and lead healthy lifestyles. We felt this would facilitate healthy lifestyle habits, social-cohesion and togetherness in the local community. All of which were much needed.

What started off as a humble group of a handful of children, playing football on a Saturday has now evolved into 7 fully fledged football teams (2 Under9s, Under10s, Under12s, Under 14s and Under 16s) playing in the Garforth league. We are so proud of this achievement but have diversified.

We arrange Cricket games in the summer open to boys and girls.

In 2023, we set up a girls football team.

We set up 4 fully booked girls AND women's Boxing classes. The demand for this is phenomenal, we have a waiting list for a further 2 classes. The support and interest from the local community is growing exponentially year on year, which lets us know that we are meeting their needs.

Nanu's foundation is a conduit through which the youngsters learn confidence, leadership, teamwork, discipline, a good work ethic, perseverance and character building. Over the past 13years, we have worked to relentlessly to build trust within the local population, mainly consisting of Pakistani and Bangladeshi people, a demographically unique group of people, that mainstream government initiatives struggle to reach.

We pride ourselves in what we have achieved and have our sights set higher. In 2024 Nanu's will establish itself as a officially recognised charity.

What we aim to achieve as an officially registered charity.

"Childhood overweight and obesity rates are higher among children in , Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups." (Kings Fund 2023)

Evidence has confirmed what we long suspected as a community, that we are at risk of a lower quality of health and it starts from as young as childhood. Whilst there are multiple determinants of health, we feel exercise is a key modifiable risk factor that we can control and positively influence.

THIS is the area that Nanu's Foundation will focus on.

• Our purpose is to encourage exercise and movement in primarily the Bangladeshi and Pakistani children and adult population, although everyone from the local community is welcome to benefit from our services.

• The benefit to the public will be manifold. 1. Access to free versatile exercise classes for young children and adults from the local deprived community. 2. Encouraging regular exercise habits in young children, helping combat childhood obesity. 3. Access for Bangladeshi and Pakistani women to culturally respectful and sensitive exercise classes. All other ethnicities are welcome.

• We envision our trustees to guide our service development and provision to ensure that we are meeting our purpose in a outstanding manner.

As a charity we plan to tap into additional funding and resources that would allow us to further expand our services in the following ways:

• To develop more exercise-related service activities allowing participation of an even larger numbers of children.

• To deliver health & wellness education classes to our community in order to help tackle wider systemic health inequalities.

• To facilitate the development of soft skills in the youth which can help with future employment.

• To set up a professional networking and mentoring service, focusing on Pakistani and Bangldeshin groups, allowing the youngsters to tap into local experts for career advice and for them to act as role models.

• To hold a variety of workshops targeted at addressing key issues affecting the local youth community at any given time.

Currently, local business and generous individuals provide sponsorships to enable service delivery. This pays for football kits, equipments, mandatory training, travel etc.

We deliver this service on a purely voluntary basis. Beneficiaries of the service currently contribute a very low fee. Establishing ourselves as a charity would enable official recognition for the work that we have been doing for the past 13years and give the wider public confidence to invest in us further.

Nanu’s academy has stood the test of time and flourished. The foundation is a tangible resource that wants to be continuously utilised for the betterment of the local community, encouraging physical activity, improving their health and in turn quality of their lives, which is better for society as a whole.

Our Core Values

• Exercise is the keystone habit, a simple way to improve our lives.

• We are culturally sensitive when promoting exercise and movement.

• We divert the youth away from anti-social behaviour and towards positive life aspirations.

• We believe in cultivating a positive optimistic attitude towards exercise in the youth.

• We are inclusive.

• We take pride in our community and collective wellbeing.