FOOTBALL teams at Barnsley College are collectively travelling more than 2,000 miles in a bit to raise money for the NHS.
Both the male and female teams usually take part in an annual tournament in Barcelona but due to the coronavirus pandemic this has been cancelled.
As a way of remaining motivated, one of the students at the college, Britt Sanderson, came up with the idea of keeping active by walking, running and cycling the distance they would have travelled had the event not been cancelled - a concept the boys quickly jumped on.
Luke Forgione, 34, the sport and athlete development co-ordinator at Barnsley College, said: “It was great when Britt came up with the idea because we’re always looking for students to show some initiative and that’s exactly what this is.
“They worked out that the distance they would have to cover is 1,092 miles, and they set themselves a target of completing that in 30 days - they’re well on with that as they ran 113 miles in the first day.
“Once the male football team heard what they were doing they wanted to get involved so they came up with the idea of completing the equivalent of the journey back to the college from Barcelona - a total of 2,184 miles.”
Luke sees this fundraising attempt as a great way to get some money to the Barnsley Hospital Charity, while also keeping the teams active and motivated.
“With the current climate that we’re in, it really hits home with everything the NHS are doing, so we chose the charity as we’re extremely thankful for everything that they’re doing,” he added.
“It’s a great motivational tool for the teams as well, it’s obviously really demoralising in lockdown for them and so it’s great for them to do stuff as a team.
“They’ve set a target of £500 and hopefully with a bit of luck we’ll be able to surpass that.”
