The Hull Kingston Rovers ‘Playing for Success’ study centre was officially launched on Friday 27th April by the Right Honourable Mr John Prescott MP and supported by Richard Smith (Wooden Spoon Representative). This was in front of invited guests that not only gave up their time to attend this unique event but also many of them were sponsors and valued supporters of the study centre. The event itself was split into 4 areas, with over 70 children enjoying and learning Rugby League skills and games over at Soccer Sensations (one of our key sponsors), led by Playing for Success staff, (Carl Puckering and Luke Gomersall) and superbly supported by the Hull Kingston Rovers Development Team (Iain Laine and Rob Fuller), with added help from Hull Kingston Rovers senior academy players.

The second part of the event was run in the Study Centre with seven children from Alderman Cogan Primary school demonstrating their computer and animation skills to our honoured guests, Right Honourable Mr John Prescott MP, Wooden Spoon and members of the Hull Kingston Rovers board. This was a fantastic event for the children, parents and teachers from Alderman Cogan, and Mr John Prescott MP was superb with them all. The children showed great confidence and enthusiasm when showing Mr John Prescott MP and other guests the great work they had done.

These children were a credit to their school, parents and more importantly themselves. The children typified what great work of the Hull Kingston Rovers ‘Playing for Success’ Study Centre. Many of these children would not have had the confidence to stand up and volunteer to do this event in front of over 90 people ten weeks ago, so I believe ‘Playing for Success’ in Hull is making a massive difference to children’s lives. Special thanks have to be given to all the staff involved in ‘Playing for Success’ for their hard work and also the teachers that give up their time after school for 10 weeks. Thank You.

The third part was the official opening, with speeches from Mr Neil Hudgell (club chairman), The Right Honourable Mr John Prescott, Paul Hatton (stadium education manager) and Richard Smith, regional chair for Yorkshire Spoon. Again this was a great occasion for all involved with the centre and special thanks must go to Pam, Jill, Brian, The Community Development Team and Peter Latham-Ward for their hard work in the build up to the event and on the night. The fourth part of the event was all about the children and really a thank you to all the kind donations from our sponsors and supporters. All the children and staff that had attended ‘Playing for Success in the last term were given tickets for themselves and their families to come to Craven Park on the night and watch the live Sky game against Huddersfield Giants. All the children that attended were given a Playing for Success T-Shirt, these were kindly sponsored by PhD Nutrition. During half time the children were given balloons and banners to parade around and onto the pitch, in celebration of the opening of the study centre. The children especially, loved this part of the night parading onto the pitch in front of the Sky television cameras; they all looked fantastic in their Playing for Success t-shirts and their great big smiles.