Strømsgodset inspires children with Blue Hour programme
For Strømsgodset IF, nothing is nicer than visiting the community. The Norwegian club recently visited 300 local children as part of the Blue Hour programme and inspired them in the process.
Representing Strømsgodset IF, club captain Jakob Glesnes, first-team player Kristoffer Tokstad, and CSR Director Lage Sofienlund recently visited 300 local kids from the Konnerud district in Drammen and conducted their biggest Blue Hour (Blåtimen) session so far. After the Blue Hour session was finished, all children had another session with trainers of the GodsetAkademiet community programme.
Under the warm blue sky, it was a magnificent time for every participant. The children were committed to the topics the club presented. It became a wonderful gathering at Konnerud.
The club also invited everyone to Strømsgodset’s next home match against Sandefjord and gave away 500 tickets so that they could share them with anyone of their choice. All children were invited to the Fanzone outside the stadium before the match as well.
Blue Hour and GodsetAkademiet are two prime examples of the work the club have done to support the development of the local community, especially youth development.
Blue Hour – Blåtimen
Strømsgodset started the community programme Blue Hour (Blåtimen) in the summer of 2016. In this programme, first team players and coaches visit local kindergartens, elementary schools, and clubs to share their expertise through Blue Hour lessons – lectures, group work or practice sessions.
What makes Blue Hour unique is the ability for participants to choose their own topic to be discussed. The club offers several Blue Hour topics on its website, including integration, racism, team building and internet/social media behaviour guidelines.
Strømsgodset aims to use its role-model power to inspire, motivate and support kids and young people in the community to work towards the main goal: Make Drammen a better city to grow up in.
Last year, there were 200 Blue Hour visits in total. Club captain Jakob Glesnes has participated in the programme the most. The 23-year-old was named ”Role model of the year” in Norwegian football in 2017 – a testament of his effort and a recognition for Strømsgodset’s community work.
GodsetAkademiet
GodsetAkademiet is a new community programme of Strømsgodset, where the club would visit 11 local clubs with GA trainers. The main goal of this project is to develop more coaches who want to work with young boys and girls from 6-12 years old. Strømsgodset wants to help local clubs create more activities for their own club and their own community, as well as to support grassroots football development with better coaches. The club plans to visit 200 local clubs and educate 3,000 grassroots coaches this year.
In general, 2018 sets to be an exciting year for Strømsgodset as they will have 400 inspiring visits to kindergartens, schools, and clubs in total.
Blåtimen – Believing in the role model effect
