Sporting Marvels is a Christian charity based in the Rhondda Valleys, South Wales, UK. Our aim is to put a positive Christian role model (a marvel) in front of every school pupil in Rhondda in the age range 10-18, every day, forever. We want to change the mindset of Rhondda's young people; from one that says “I can’t” to one that says “I can” and to encourage them to make good choices and aspire to be the best they can be. Our mission statement in our first decade was “community transformation one person at a time” and we hope that as we positively influence the young people we work with that they will then help to transform Rhondda from being ‘the place to leave’ to ‘the place to be’. It’s our belief then that this will inspire other communities to follow suit and dream the same dream for their community. As you’ll see from the contents of our website, we’ve come a long way in over a decade working in many of Rhondda’s schools. Working in these schools, the Marvels model right living, strong character and the importance of treating others as you want to be treated. As local heroes and the coolest people in town, they’re “inspiring transformation” in Rhondda’s next generation of children, and they have already impacted many lives. We hope that the next 10 years will be even better than the first!

At Sporting Marvels, it is our goals,our dream, that defines ‘who we are‘ and our goal is simple simple: to put a positive Christian role model (a “Marvel”) in front of every school pupil in Rhondda in the age range 10-18, every day, forever. We aim to change the mindset of Rhondda’s young people; from one that says “I can’t” to one that says “I can” and to encourage them to make good choices and aspire to be the best they can be. Our mission statement in our first decade was “community transformation one person at a time” and we hope that as we positively influence the young people we work with that they will then help to transform Rhondda from being ‘the place to leave’ to ‘the place to be’. It’s our belief then that this will inspire other communities to follow suit and dream the same dream for their community.

As you’ll see from the contents of our website, we’ve come a long way. Working through the schools, our positive Christian role models, the Marvels, model right living, strong character and the importance of treating others as you want to be treated. As local heroes and the coolest people in town, they’re “inspiring transformation”, and they have already impacted the lives of so many children in these last ten years, making Christianity more relevant and inspiring a generation to dream big!

Whilst much has already been achieved, we haven’t reached our goal yet, but our commitment to achieving our dream is greater than ever! What we’ve seen along the way encourages us to try harder, work harder, dig deeper.

It’s obvious from the feedback that our being a charity that relies entirely on thee goodwill and generosity of our partners, comes as a surprise to many. While schools do not have to pay for our service and none of them £2m it’s cost to reach this point has come from local authority or public funding, we do have a core of incredible partners. Made up of individuals, organisations, churches and ministries, every single one part of the Sporting Marvels “family” are the unseen heroes of our amazing story. They’re all awesome and we take every opportunity we can to honour them for the vital role they play in helping turn this particular dream into reality.

With over ten years on the journey, we’re encouraged by the fact that our relationships with the schools, Heads and staff have never been better; that relationships with parents grow all the time; and that our relationship with the kids….. well….. We’ll let the contents of this website speak for us!

We still have a long way to go, but we’re a lot closer than when we started and if history has taught us anything, it’s this: if you can dream it, you can achieve it!!

The Sporting Marvels operation has many facets to it and you can find more detail on this by clicking on ‘what we do’. Chiefly we work in primary and secondary school education and we currently partner with more than half of Rhondda’s schools. In the primary/junior schools we deliver our RE/PSE & PE Mighty Marvels Programme and in the comprehensive schools we work with the PE Departments where we run our All-Star Programme. The schools we currently with are:

Secondary Schools We Work With:

1.) Tonypandy Community College (Full-time)

2.) Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhondda (Full-time)

3.) Ferndale Community School (Part-time)

Primary/Junior Schools We Work With:

1.) Tonypandy Primary

2.) Penygraig Juniors

3.) Pontrhondda Primary

4.) Ysgol Yr Eos Primary

5.) Cwm Clydach Primary

6.) Llwynypia Primary

7.) Williamstown Primary

8.) YGG Llwyncelyn

9.) YGG Bodringallt

10.) YGG Bronllwyn

11.) YGG Ynyswen

12.) YGG Llyn Y Forwyn

13.) Ton Pentre Juniors

14.) Penyrenglyn Primary

15.) Parc Primary

16.) Bodringallt Primary

17.) Darran Park Primary

18.) Maerdy Primary

19.) Cymmer Juniors

20.) Ynyshir Primary

21.) Ysgol Hen Felin

If you would like to find out some more information on Sporting Marvels please check out the rest of our website, but in particular the SMTV page which contains a variety of videos which will enable you to see first-hand a bit more about us.