Five Haringey young stars secure sports scholarships after successful trials

Five children from Haringey have taken steps towards fulfilling their sporting ambitions after being offering year-long scholarships.

As many as 150 children undertook trials in football, tennis, athletics and rugby as part of Fusion Lifestyle’s ‘Great Outdoors Summer of Stars’ initiative, which is aiming to encourage young people to become more active.

They showcased their talents in front of former British Olympic sprinter Jason Gardener MBE and a series of expert sporting bodies at New River Sport & Fitness leisure centre in Wood Green.

Eight children were then offered scholarships across the four sports, and five of them were from Haringey.

Jalil Wray, 11, Rorey Daru, nine, and Cian Burke, six, and were selected in the rugby category and 10-year-old Ray Chapman was successful in the tennis group while Rion Hitchman, 13, was chosen in the athletics section.

This Sunday, Fusion will open their Tottenham Green Pools & Fitness centre to offer two more children the chance to win swimming scholarships.

Gardener said: “It has been fantastic to be involved in such a great initiative. The trials at New River Sport & Fitness showed how much talent there is in the UK.

“It was actually really hard to pick winners as there were so many children with both incredible sporting ability and great enthusiasm.

“These five really stood out from the crowd and I am really excited to see how they progress with the support of Fusion’s training over the coming year.”