Lewisham Shopping Sponsors Sports Academy

Date: 6 Oct 2008

Lewisham Shopping is to fund a sponsorship and volunteering programme to help Ten-Em-Bee, the sports development academy based in the borough, reach its goal of making a positive difference to people living in the community.

The initiative, titled ‘Ten-Em-Bee Together’ was launched on 2nd October by Ali Fusieni, Millwall FC’s dynamic midfielder together with representatives from

 Lewisham Shopping and Ten-Em-Bee. Ali, who has been playing a key part in the Lions’ best start to the season for almost two decades, honed his skills at Ten-Em-Bee, where his brother was also a coach.

Ali joined Paul Redden, Centre Manager of Lewisham Shopping and players from one of Ten-Em-Bee’s junior football teams (all pictured) to announce the programme, which will be overseen by George Davis at Ten-Em-Bee.

Ten-Em-Bee provides facilities for tennis, netball, cricket and football to approximately 240 young people aged six to eighteen years in the London Borough of Lewisham from its location in Downham. As well as encouraging the development of sporting excellence, Ten-Em-Bee provides selective scholarships to develop young people into sports coaches in their chosen field. It has an excellent record in nurturing sporting talent, building confidence in young people and enabling positive community links.

Through ‘Ten-Em-Bee Together’ Lewisham Shopping is making contributions in a number of wide-reaching areas, including:
• Funding sportswear for all 240 players at Ten-Em-Bee.
• Funding scholarships for young people aged 16 – 18 years
• Providing access to the world of work through mentoring, work experience and employment opportunities at the shopping centre and among its retailers.
• Providing volunteering teams from the shopping centre to maintain and improve the facilities at Ten-Em-Bee’s Downham training centre.

Says Paul Redden, Manager of Lewisham Shopping: “I am delighted that Lewisham Shopping can make this investment in Ten-Em-Bee, not only to help nurture the sporting excellence of the players and give support to the coaching staff through practical maintenance of the Downham site, but also to giving older players access to work experience and employment opportunities through the centre and our retailers.

“The initiative is called ‘Ten-Em-Bee Together’ for a reason – namely that this is about partnership in its truest sense to enable the organisation to continue to grow and flourish.”

Says George Davis of Ten-Em-Bee: “The skills learned by youngsters at Ten-Em-Bee equip them for the playing field and for life, giving them the confidence and motivation to succeed.

“Having Lewisham Shopping involved with Ten-Em-Bee is fantastic. Paul and his colleagues at the shopping centre are as passionate about supporting the ambitions of young people as we are, and together I know we’ll make a great team.”

Ten-Em-Bee was launched in the mid 1970s as a sports club to facilitate youth development. The club is based at a five-acre site at 120a Old Bromley Road, Downham BR1 4JY. Along with Ali, other notable graduates from Ten-Em-Bee include footballers Shaun Wright-Phillips and his brother Bradley. Players of all ages who live in the London Borough of Lewisham are welcome. Please call 0208 313 9510 for enquiries.