A recently awarded grant will let 65 sixth-form students from Kingston and surrounding boroughs experience what a sports career is truly like.

A recent £4,000 sports grant, which was awarded to a Kingston University-based project in October, will be spent on a tour of future 2012 Olympic sites with the intention of encouraging more “non traditional university students” to pursue a career in sports via higher education.

The grant, donated as part of the 'Premier League’s Creating Chances: Places for Players' initiative by Fulham FC, will give 65 sixth former students, chosen from Kingston and the surrounding boroughs, the opportunity to experience what a career in sports is like and to see up close the opportunities that the upcoming Olympic games will present.

“We want vocational students to realise the fantastic working opportunities to be had in the world of sport,” said Elizabeth Lawrence, head of the Aimhigher London South project, “whether that involves being a sports agent, working behind the scenes at a stadium or indeed kicking a ball into the back of a net for a Premiership team.”

The tour of the Olympic sites, which is scheduled to take place in July, will be part of a summer sports fair to be held at the University this summer. Ms Lawrence, who was “absolutely thrilled” to have been awarded the grant, said that the event would give students the opportunity to meet “positive role models” in the sports industry. While she conceded that they were unlikely to attract the likes of Lord Sebastian Coe, Ms Lawrence was hopeful that they would secure a “prospective 2012 athlete” to speak with the sixth formers at the event.

“we are targeting sixth formers who are not the typical university students”, said Ms Lawrence whose three day sports fair will incorporate sixth formers from Kingston, Richmond, Croydon, Merton, Sutton and Bromley, “they will be able to meet people involved in sports marketing and even get a taste of Sports Science at University.”

Premier League Chief Executive Richard Scudamore acknowledges that sport, football in particular, has the “ability to inspire and engage” and has helped raise awareness of social challenges such as “healthy eating, anti-social behaviour and inequality.”

Contributors of the grant, Fulham FC, have been very active in the local community in the past month, recently sending players to the Kingston based Community Sport & Physical Activity Network and last Wednesday sending a host of its International stars to Surrey County Cricket Club in partnership with the ECHO project.