‘OFFSIDE Line’ is a new initiative launched to help broaden our students’ sporting horizons.
The programme – set up by our Director of Sport, Henning Kaaber, and his team – was spearheaded with a talk by Edward Pearson, who is Head of Geography at King’s Ely Senior. With year group safety bubbles still in place, Mr Pearson’s talk, entitled ‘My Sporting Journey’, was restricted to Sport Scholars, however the programme will be open to all pupils moving forward.
Mr Kaaber said: “Mr Pearson’s talk was a reflection on his own sporting background, which saw him achieve his Blue at Cambridge. By way of a grandparent from Rwanda, he then went on to represent the African nation at cricket, where he found himself serving as Player-Coach, as well as becoming the Project Manager for building the new national stadium in Kigali in 2013.
“Following the ethnic tensions and genocide in Rwanda in 1994, in which around 900,000 people lost their lives, Mr Pearson’s experiences highlight the galvanising and humanising influence of sport, as rival Tutsi and Hutu played alongside each other representing the national side.”
A further ‘Offside Line’ will follow after Half Term, and will then take place on a monthly basis as of September.