Secondary schools compete in university football tournament in a bid to win Sharpie Cup

The tournament for Year 7 students is held each year in memory of former university student and promising football coach Joe Sharpe, who sadly lost his life in January 2016.

Seven schools and 14 teams – a boys and a girls football team for each school – arrived at the Bishop Otter campus in Chichester on Friday (April 26), all hoping to win the Sharpie Cup.

The annual event is run by Danny Potter, the university’s programme leader for Football Coaching & Performance, and his second-year students who coached the young teams.

Danny said: “Watching so many local young people play football in one thing, though with them being coached by our university students and enjoying the day so much is truly amazing. I am so proud of my second year Football Coaching and Performance students, as they showed during the event how applied they are and how passionate they are about football.

“We, the university, are lucky to have such great schools close to us and we are in a great position to continue to host events like the Sharpie Cup, in giving both opportunities and also needed competition in sport. Plans for next year are already underway.”

The schools taking part in the tournament were: Bishop Luffa School; The Regis School; The Academy, Selsey; Felpham Community College; Chichester High School; Bourne Community College; and St Philip Howard Catholic School.

The teams competed for The Sharpie Cup, with The Regis School winning the competition for the boys, and Chichester High School for the girls.

Paula Taylor, PE teacher at Bourne Community College, had nothing but praise for the university students and, said: “I wanted to say how amazing they’ve been with our students, the kids have loved it.”

And for the Year 7s, it’s all about the taking part. She added: “It means they can come and have a good game. Representing their school means a lot to them. It is more about enjoying it than competing.”

Sam Conolly, PE teacher at The Regis School, said: “The kids are buzzing, they’re loving it. It is amazingly run. And you can already see the progression when it comes to the football. They’ve had a fantastic time.”

Second year football coaching and performance students Harrison Mott and Mia Pordage reflected on how the day had gone.

Harrison said: “It is gone pretty seamlessly, and the kids seemed to enjoy it.”

Mia added: “It’s a good opportunity for them, they learned quite a bit about themselves. They got to play with their friends and build team bonds.”

Sean O’Connor, of the West Sussex West School Sport Partnership, said: “The university students have been brilliant, all of our staff have said how good they’ve been. They’re fully invested in it.”

To find out more about sports courses at the University of Chichester, visit: www.chi.ac.uk/sport